Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of the New continent during the years 1799-1804

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J2o2.e. IM-I

600022831 M

personal ilatrati\)e

OF TRAVELS

10 THE

EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS

OF THE

NEW CONTINENT,

W. PopLB, Printer,
6T, Chancery f^or, London.

or TRAVELS

TO THl

EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS

OF THB

NEW CONTINENT,

DURING THE YEARS 1799 — 1804.

BT

ALEXANDER DE HUMBOLDT,

i.ND

AIMÉ BONPLAND;
WITH MAPS, PLANS, S^C.

WRITTEN m FRENCH BT

ALEXANDER DE HUMBOLDT,

AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGUSH BT

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.
VOL T.

LONDON :

P^llNTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,

PATERNOSTER ROW; J, MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET;

AND II. COLBURN, CONDUIT STREET*

1914.

" ''■ -i.

2^JIViAR1939

W, Pople» Printer, 67, Chancery Lane.

lc\ W-

w^ .

PREFACE.

After having so long withdrawn myself
from the pubhc eye, it 4s only under the
auspices of the following work, that I
should have ventured to appear once
more in its presence.

The narratives of travellers, and, above
all, the description of those remote coun-
tries of the globe, which have immortalized
the name of Cook, have always had a par-
ticular attraction for my mind ; and led
me in my early youth, to weave an
humble chaplet for the brow of that great
navigator, which my venerable friend.
Doctor Kippis, inserted in the history of
his life. The narrative of Cook's glorious

VI PREFACE.

career derives a peculiar charm iiom
presenting to us new systems of social
organization; but it must be admitted,
that in general sea-expeditions have a
certain monotony, which arises from the
necessity of continually speaking of navi-
gation in technical language/ The mariner
also, while he braves the element on which
he steers his perilous course, is chiefly
occupied by its dangers. The outlines
and the bearings of coasts are the leading
objects of his researches ; he visits only
the shores of the countries where he dis-
embarks, and holds but slight communica-
tions with the natives by whom they are
peopled.

The history of journies by land in
distant regions is far more calculated to
excite general interest; not only by ex-
tending the limits of science, but by pre-
senting new aspects of the variegated
scenery of the Globe. Happy the traveller,
with whom the study of Nature has pot

PREFACE. VU

been merely the cold research of the
understanding, in the explanation of her
properties, or the solution of her problems!
who, while he has interpreted her laws, has
adored her sublimity, and followed her
steps with passionate enthusiasm, amidst
that solemn and stupendous scenery, those
melancholy and sacred solitudes, where
she speaks in a voice so well understood b}^
the mysterious sympathy of the feeling
heart. With what soothing emotions,
what eager delight, do we follow the tra-
veller, who leads us ftom the cares, the
sorrows, the joys of ordinary life, to wan-
der in another hemisphere ! to luark un-
known forms of luxuriant beauty, and
unknown objects ot majestic greatness —
to view a new earth, and even new skies!
from which the stars known from chikl-
hood, the stars of home, have disappeared,
and are succeeded by a foreign firmament.
How often will posterity also turn from
the terrible page of our history, to repose

Vm PREFACE.

on the charm of a narrative, which dis-
plays the most enlarged views of science
and philanthropy ! What sympathy does the
traveller excite, while he imprints the first
step, that leads to civilization and all its
boundless blessings, along the trackless
desert, and, struggling with the savageness
of the untamed wilderness, obtains a
Aictory that belongs to mankind.

It were erroneous to believe, that
countries, because they have been already
visited, are therefore known. A penetiat-
ing and capacious mind finds every where
new materials for observation. The work,
of which I now offer the translation to the
public, relates to Tegions of which the
greater part have never till now been de-
scribed by a scientific and learned traveller,
A few botanists had indeed herbalized
along those distant coasts, and added some
riches to the vegetable world. La Con-
damine, Don Jorge Juan, and Bouguer^
scaled the lofty Andes ; but it was only to

PREFACE. IX

measure their height, and mate astronomi-
cal observations. Their Journals, which
date farther back than half a century,
were written when geology did not exist
as a science, and the physical structure of
those giants of our Globe was. yet un-
known.

What has hitherto been wanting is now
accomplished. M. de Humboldt has in
this work displayed, more than in any other
he has yet published, his peculiar manner
of contemplating nature in all her over-
whelming greatness. The appropriate cha-
racter of his writings is the faculty he pos-
sesses of raising the mind to general ideas,
without neglecting individual facts ; and
while he appears only to address himself to
our reason* he has the secret of awakening
the imagination, and of being underctood
by the heart.

The general jncture, which he has drawn
of the Isle of Teneriffe, and the geography
of its plants, proves, that in objects often

X PREFACE*

viewed by others he has seen what they
had failed to discern ; and in almost the
whole of the remainder of his travels he
pursues alone the difficult path of scientific
discovery. From the Canary Islands he
passes to Cumana, New Andalusia, and
the missions of the Indians, Chaymas, the
province of the Caraccas, the banks of the
Apure and the Rio Negro, to the limits of
Brazil) New Grenada, the Andes of Po^
payan, Porto, Quito, and Peru, the wes-
tern part of the Amazons, Mexico, and the
Isle of Cuba. How majestic is nature in
the forest and on the banks of the Oronoco !
the communications of which flood with
that of the Amazons M. de Humboldt
Jhas astronomically laid down and deter-
mined.

This great work will now soon be ter-
minated. M. de Humboldt remains in Paris
for this purpose, with the permission of
his own government.

In becoming his interpreter in the text

PREFACE. XI

of the Picturesque Atlas, and the Personal
Narrative of his voyage, 1 have been çn-
couraged by the care with which he has
read most of my pages, and corrected
many of my errors. My scanty knowledge
of the first principles of science seemed in-
deed to preclude the fuU comprehension of
many of the subjects of which he treats ;
but a short experience convinced me, that
what is clearly expressed may be clearly
understood; and I shall perhaps be par*
doned, if, from the novelty of the subject,
neologisms sometimes occun Long a
stranger to my country, I have indeed no
critical favour to expect; I mean that
species of favor, which arises from personal
acquaintance, and, perhaps even unknow-
ing to the critic himself, softens the stern
brow of reproof, and leads him unconsci-
ously to be indulgent, when he only meant
to be just. I have nothing to hope from
such predilection. My Uterary patrons
belonged to what Ossian calls " the days

»•

s

XU PREFACE.

of other years/' Above all, the learhed
protector of my early pen, he, whom I
have already mentioned, land of whom I
never think without emotion, is long since
no more I But in appearing before an Eng-
lish tribunal, I will not fear injustice, if I
have nothing to hope from partiaUty ; and
whatever may be the fate of my imperfect
copy of a sublime model, I shall never feel,
that the momenta were mispent, which I
have employed in so soothing, and so no-
ble a task.

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS

C O N T E N T S^

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

page;

Preparations.-^Instruments.-— Departure from Spain,
— Landing at the Canary Islands. .••••• I

CHAPTER II.

Stay at Tenerifie.— Journey from Santa Cruz to
Orotava.— -Excursion to the top of the Peak of
Teyde 109

/

INTRODUCTION.

XwELVE jears have elapsed siace I quit-
ted Europe, to examine the interior of the
new continent. Devoted from my earliest
youth to the study of nature, feeling with
enthusiasm the savage beauties t)f a coun-
try guarded by mountains, and shaded by
ancient forests, I experienced in my travels
such enjoyments, as have amply toiijpen-
sated for the privations inseparable from
a laborious, and often agitated life. These
enjoyments, which I endeavoured to im-
part to my readers in my Remarks upon
the Steppes, and in the Essay on the Phy-
siognomy of Plants, were not the only
fruits I have reaped from an undertaking,
formed with the design of contributing to
the progress of natural philosophy. I had
long prepared myself for these observations
which were the principal pbjects of mf

VOL. 1. b

u

voyage to the torrid zone. I was provided
with instruments of easy and convenient
use, constructed by artists of the highest
reputation ; and I enjoyed the special pro-
tection of a government, which, far from
presenting obstacles to my investigations,
constantly honored me with every mark of
regard and confidence. 1 was aided by a
courageous and enlightened friend, and,
what is singularly propitious to the success
of participated labor, whose zeal and equa-
nimity never failed, amidst the fatigues
and dangers to which we were sometimes
exposed.

Under such favorable circumstances,
traversing regions which for ages have re-
mained almost unknown to the . greatest
part of the nations of Europe, I might add
even to »Spain, we have collected, M. Bon-
pland and myself, a considerable number
of materials, the publication of which may
throw some light on the history of nations,
and the knowledge of nature. Our in-
quiries having been directed towards a
great variety of objects, we have been un-
able to present the result under the com-
mon form of an itinerary, and have there-

• • •

m

fore consigned our observations in a series
of separate works, cotnpiled in the samd
view, and connected with each other by thé
nature of the phssnomena which they ex-
plain. Thi* sort of composition betray â
more r'eadily the imperfection of partial
labors, and therefore is unfavorable to the
self-love of the traveller, but it is highly
preferable for whatever relates to the phy-
sical and mathematical sciences, because
the different branches of those sciences are
seldom cultivated by the same class of
readers.

I had in view a double purpose in thç
travels, of Which I now publish the histori-
cal narrative. I wished to make known
the countries I had visited ; and to collect
such facts as are fitted to elucidate a sci-
ence, of which we have possessed scarcely
the outline, and which has been vaguely
denominated natural history of the worlds
theory of the Earth, or physical geography.
The last of these two object^ seemed ta
me the niost important. I was passionate-
ly devoted to botany, and certain parts of
zoolpgy, and ï flattered myself that out.
investigations might add some liew specie*

b 2

IV

- #

to those which have been already describ-
ed ; but prefening the connection of facts,
^hich have been long observed, to the
knowledge of insfulated. facts, although
the J were new, the discovery of an un-
known genus seemed to me far less inter-
esting than an observation on the geogra-
phical relations of the vegetable world,
on the migration of the social plants, and
the limit of the height which tlieir dif-?
ferent tribes attain on the flanks of the
Cordilleras.

The natural sciences are connected by
the same ties that link all the phenomena
of nature* The classification of the species
which we ought to consider as the funda-
mental part of botany, and the-study of which
is become more attractive and more easy by

the introduction of natural methods, is to

♦ ■ . ■

the geography of plants, what descriptive
mineralogy is to the indication of the rocks
which constitute the exterior crust- of the
globe. To comprehend the laws which are
observed in the position of these rocks, and
determine the age of their successive for-
mations, and their identity in the most
distant regions, the geologist ought to be

previously acquainted with the simple fos-^
sils^ which compose the mass of mountains,
and of which the names and character are
the object of pryctognostical knowledge.
It is the same with that part of the natural
history of the globe, that treats of the rela-
tions the plants have to each other, with
the. soil whence they spring, or the air
which they inhale, and modify. . The pro-
gress of the geography of plants depends^
in a great measure pn that of descriptive
botany; and it would be injurious to the"
advancement of the sciences to attempt
rising to general ideas, in neglecting the
knowledge of particular facts.

I have been guided by these considera-
tions in the course of my inquiries; they
were always present to my mind at the
period of my preparatory studies. Wheni*
I began to read the numerous relations of
voyages, which compose so interesting a
part of modern literature, I regretted that
travellers, the most enlightened m the in-
sulated branches of natural history, were
seldom possessed of a sufficient variety of
knowledge, to avail themselves of every ad*
vantage arising from their position. It ap-'

VI

pearcd tON me, that the importance of the
results hitherto obtained did not -keep
pace with the immense progress, which se-
veral parts of science, and particularly geo-
logy, the history of the modifications of
the atmosphere, and the physiology of
animals and plants, had made at the end
of the eighteenth century. I saw with re-
gret, and all scientific men have shared
this sentiment, that whilst the number of
accurate instruments wa« daily increas-
ing, we were still ignorant of the height of
so many mountains and elevated plains;
of the periodical oscillations of the aerial
ocean ; the limit of perpetual snows under
the polar circle, and on the borders of the
torrid zone ; jthe variable intensity of the
magnetic forces, and so many other phoe-
nomena, equally important.

Maritime expeditions, voyages round
the world, have conferred just celebrity on
the names of those naturalists and astro-
nomers, who have been appointed by go^
vernments to encounter the dangers they
present ; but while those distinguished per-
sons have given precise notions of the ex-
ternal configuration of countries, of the

VII

natural hirtory of the oceiao, and of the
productions of islands and coasts, their ex-
peditions seem less fitted to advance the
progress of geology, and other parts of ge^
neraî physics, than travels into the* inferior
of a continent. The advancement of the
natural sciènôés has been subordinate to
that of geography and nautical astronomy.
During a navigation of several years, the
land but seldom presents itself to the ob-
servation of the mariner ; and when, after
lengthened expectation, it is descried, he
often finds it stripped of its most beautiful
productions. Sometimes beyond a barren
coast he perceives a ridge of mountains
covered with verdure, but its distance for-
bids his examination, and the view serves
only to increase his regrets.

Journeys by land are attended with con-
siderable difficulty in the carriage of in»-

t

struments and collections, but these diffi*
cultiés are compensated by real advantages,
*^!iiich it would be useless to enumerate.
It is not by sailing along the coast, that we
can discover the direction of the chadns of
mountains, and their geological constitua
tion, the climate of each zone, and its in-

vni

fluence on the forms and the habits of or-
ganized beings. In proportion to thebrçadth
of the continents, the greater is the display
on the surface of the soil, of the richness of
the animal and vegetable productions ; the
more distant the central chain of moun-
tains from the shores of the ocean, the
greater variety we find, in the bosom of the
Earth, of those stony strata, the regular
succession of which unfolds to us the his-
tory of our planet. In the same manner,
as every being considered apart is im-
pressed with a particular type, we find. the
saoie impression in the arrangement of
brute matter organized in rocks, in the dis-
tribution, and mutual relations of plants
and ,anim?ils. The great problem of the
physical description of the globe, is the
determination of the form of these types,
the laws of their relations with eaçli other,
and tlie (eternal ties which link the phae-
Domena of life^ and those of inanimate na-
ture. . ' V

In explaining the motives which en-
gaged me to undertake an ejcpedition into
the interior of a continent, 1 merely state
tbp general direction of my ide^^s. at. an age

IX

»

wjién w6 have not obtained a just estimate
of our faculties. The plans of my early
youth have been very incompletely exe-
cuted- My journey has not had all the
extent, which I proposed when I sailed
for South America; nor has it furnished
the number of general results, which I had
hoped to obtain. The court of Madrid
had granted: me in 1799 permission to
embark on board, the galleon of Acapul-
co, and visit the Marian and Philippine
islands, after traversing tlie colonies of the
new continent. I had then purposed to
go back to Europe by the great Archipe-
lago of Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the
way of Bagdad. , I shall find occasion
hereafter to state the reasons, which de*
termined me to hasten my return. With
respect to the works which M. Bonpland
and myself have published, we hope that
their imperfection, of which we are con-
scious, will be attributed neither to a want
of zeal during the progress of our re-
searches, nor to precipitation in the pub-
lication of our labors. A determined will
and active perseverance are not always
sufficient to surmount every obstacle.

Having stated the general object I had
in view in my expeditions^ I shall hasten
to give a slight sketch of the* whole of the
collections and observations which we have
accumulated, and the union of which is
the aim and end of every scientific jour-
nèy. The maritime war, during our abode
in Ameriai, having rendered the commu-
nications with Europe very uncertain j we
found ourselves compelled, in order to di*
minish the chance of losses, to form three
different collections. Of these, the first
was embarked for Spain and France, the
second for the United States and England,
and the third, whicli was the most consi-
derable, remained almost constantly under
our eyes. Towards the close of our ex-
pedition, this last collection fôrined forty
two boxes, containing an herbal of si^
thousand equinoctial plants, seeds*, shells,

* Among the plants which we have introduced
into the different gardens of EuropCi I shcdl cite here,
as worthy the attention of botanists, the following
species, I^obelia fulgens, J* splendens, caldasia he-
terophylla, (bonp)anilia geminiflora, Cav,)» maurandia
antirrhiniflora, gyrocarpus americandy Jacq.| caesal-»
pinia cassioides, salvia caesia, cyperus nodosas, fa-

insects, andy what had hitherto never been
' brought to Europe, geologic»! specimens
from the Chimborazo, New Grenada, and
the banks of the river of the Amazons.

After the journey to the Orinoco, we left
a part of these objects at the island of
Cuba, in order to take them on our return
from Peru to Mexico. The rest followed
us during the space of five. years, on the
chain of the Andes, across New Spain,
from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the
West Indian seas. The conveyance of these
, objects, and the minute care they required^
occasioned us such embarrassments as would
scarcely be conceived, by those even who

gara lentiscifolia^ heliotropium chenopodioidesi con*
volvulus bogotensisy c. arboVcscens^ ipomœa longU
flora, Bolauum Humboldii, Wrildti dichondraargentea,
pitcairnia furfuracea» cassia pendula, c mollissima,
Ç. prostrata, c. cuspidjsta, euphorMa Humboldti^
WiUd., ruellia fœtida, sisjrincbium tenuifolium, sida
cornuta, s. triaogularis, phaseolus beterophyllus^
glycine precatoria, g. sagittata, palea bicolor,. pso*
l'aléa divaricatap myrica mexioanat atriplex linifolia^
ioga micropbyllai acacia diptera, a. flexuosa, a*
patula, a. bracbyacantba, a. ciliatai a* aciculans, a*
peraviana, a. edulis, and several varieties of geor-
gines. (See tVilldenow Enum. plant, hort. BeroU
UB09.

xu

have traversed the most uncultivated parts
of Europe. Our progress was often re-
tarded by the threefold necessity of drag-
gnig after us, during expeditions of five or
six months, twelve, fifteen, and sometimes
more than twenty loaded mules, exchang-
ing these animals every eight or ten days,
and superintending the Indians who were
employed in -leading so numemus a cara-
van. Often, in order to add to our col-
lections of new mineral substances*, we

♦ The mineral and vegetable substanceii which we
have brought from -America, several of which were
till then unknown, have been submitted to chemical
analysis by M.M. Vauquelin, Klaproih, Descotils,
- Allen, and Drapier, who have given descriptions of
them in separate memoirs. 1 shall here mention two
new mineral species: The feucr-opal, or quartz resi-
nite miellé of Mexico {Klaproth, chem. Unters. der
Mill. T. 4f ». 156. Sonneschmidt Beschr, der Mex.
Bergref. S. 119- Karsten min. TabeUen, 1808,/) t6,
88.) and the cbnchoidal murialed silver of Peru,
muschliches bornerz (Klapr, IV, 10. Karst, p. 60, 97.
Magazin der Berl. NatwJ. /, 158); the silver ore, pa*
CO of Pasco (Klapr. I Tf) the antimoniai gray copper ore,
graugultigerz of Tasco (KL IF, 7^); the mete-
oric iron, meteoreisen, of Durango (KL IF, -101^;
the ferriferous carbonated limestone, sta^nglieher
braurmpath, . of Guanaxuato, the crystals of which
reunited in bars form equilateral triangles (Kl. IF,

XUl

found ourselves obliged to throw away
others, which we had collected a consider-
able time before. These sacrifices were not
less painful thaa the losses which we acci-
dentally made. Sad experience taught us
but too late, that from the sultry humidity
of the climate, and the frequent falls of the
beasts of burden, we could preserve nei-

]99^; the obsidians of the Knife mountain of Mpran^
and the pierre perlée^ perlstein of Cinapecuaro (Des*
eotilsy ji finales 'de Chimie, LUI, 260^ ; concrete oxi.
dated lin, (wood tin) of Mexico (Descotils, jinn.
Lllf, 266) ; the brown lead-ore of Zimapan (Desco*
tils, Ann. LI [I, 263) ; the celestine of Popayan and
the wavellite, or hydrargillite ; a pépite of plaûna
of ChocOy weighing 1088-8 grains, which is 18*947
specific gravity (Kamten, 9G)i theinoya of Pelileo^
a volcanic combustible substance, containing: felds*
path (Klapr. IF, 289>) ; the guano of the islands of
Peru, containing urat of ammonia (Klapr. IV,
299. Fourcroy et Vauquelin, Mem. of the hist. VI,
369) ; the dapiclié of the river Temi| a species of white
caoutchouc, which is found at the depth of three or
four feet in a damp ^oil (Aliens Jourti. Phy.^. Liv XVIL
77); the tabasheer of the bamboos of America^ dif-
ferent from that of Asiei (VaUquelin, Mem. deVlmtit,
VI,3S2,); the cortex Angusturaî, bark of the bonplan*
dia trifoliala of Carony ; the cinchona condaminea of
Loxa, and several other species of cinchina^ which
we collected in the forests of New Grenada (Vau-
quelin, Ann. LIX, 137.)

XIV

tlier the skins of animals too hastily pri>
|>ared, nor the fishes and reptiles placed in
phials filled with alcohol. I have thought
proper to enter into these details, which,
although little interesting in themselves,
prove tliat we had no means of bringing
back; in their natural state, many objects
of zoology and comparative anatomy,
of which we have published descriptions
and drawings. Notwithstanding some ob-
stacles, and the expense occasioned by the
carriage of these articles, I had reason to
applaud the resolution I had taken before
my departure, of sending to Europe the
duplicates only of the productions we had
collected. I cannot too often repeat, that
when the seas are infested with privateers,
a traveller can be sure only of the objects
in his own possession. A very small num-
ber of the duplicates, which we shipped
for the ancient continent during our abode
in America, were saved ; the greater part
fell into the hands of persons unknown to
science. When a ship is condemned in a
foreign port, boxes containing only dried
plants or stones, far from being sent to the
scientific men to whom they are- addressed.

XV

retnain consigned to oblivion • Some of
our geological collections taken in the
Southern Qcean had, however, a happier
fate. We were indebted for their preser-
vation to the generous activity of Sir Jo-
seph Banks, President of the Royal Society
of London, who, admidst the poUtical
agitations of Europe, has unceasingly la-
bored to strengthen the ties by which are
united the scientific of^ all nations.

The same causes, which checked our com-
munications, h^ve contributed also to form
numerous obstacles, since our return, to the
publication of a work, which from its na-
ture must be accompanied by a consider-
able number of engravings and maps. If
such difficulties are sometimes encountered
in undertakings made at the expense, and
by the munificence of governments, how
much more must they be felt by private
individuals! It would have been imposai-*
ble for us to have surmounted them, if the
liberal zeal of the editors had not been
seconded by the extreme favor of the pub-
lic. More than two thirds of our work are
already published. The maps of the
Orinoco, of the Cassiquiare, and of the

XVI

I

river Magdalena, founded on my astrono-
mical observation?, together with several
hundred plants, are engraved and ready
to appear. ' I shall not leave Europe to
undertake an expedition into Asia, till I
have laid before the public the whole result
of my travels in the New Continent.

In the memoirs in which we have in-
vestigated the various objects of our re-
marks, we have considered each pheno-
menon under different aspects, and classed
our observations according to the. relations
which they bear tr) each other. To give a
just idea of the method we have followed,
I shall here add a succinct enumeration of
the materials, with which we were furnished
for describing the volcanoes of Antisana
arid Pichincha, as well as that of Jorullo,
which in the night of the 20th of September
1759 rose from the eartli one thousand
five hundred and seventy-eight French feet
above the surrounding plains of Mexico.
The position of these singular mountains in
longitude and latitude was ascertained by
astronomical observations. We took the
heights of the different parts by the aid of
the barometer, and determined the dip

xvn

bf the needle and the intensity of the ma^
netic forces. Our collectiona contam thv
plants which ate spread on the flanks of
these volcanoes ; and specimens of différent
rocks, wliichj piled on each otherj consti-
tute their external coat. We are en^
abled to indicate by measures sufficiently
exact the height above the level of the
ocean, at which we found aach group of
plants, and each volcanic rock. Our jour*
nais furnish us with a series of observations
on the humidity, tl^e temperature, the eleo
tricity, and the degree of the transparency
of the air on the brinks of the craters of Pi-
chincha and Jorullo; the topographical plans
and the geological profiles of these moun-
tains, founded in part on the measure of
vertical bases, and on angles of altitude.
Each observation has been calculated ac-
cording to the tables and the methods, which
are considered as the most exact in the
actual state of our knowledge; and io
order to judge of the degree of çonôdençç
which the results may claim, we have pre-
served the whole detail of our partial oper-
ations.
It would have beçn possible to blend

these dififerent materials in a work devoted
wholly to the description of the volcanoes
of Peru and New Spain. Had I given the
physical description of a single province, I
could have treated separately what relates
io geography, mineralogy, and botany ; but
how could I interrupt either the narrative,
a disquisition on the manners, the aspect
of nature, or the great phaenomena of
gefneral physics, by the fatiguing enumera-
tion of the productions of tl>e country, the
description of new species of animals and
plants, or by the dry detail of astronomical
observations? Had I adopted a mode of
composition, which should h&ve contained
in the same chapter all that has been oI>
4^rved on the same point of the globe, I
i^uld have composed a work of cumbrous
length, and devoid of that clearness, whidi
arises in a great measure from the methodi-
cal distribution of the matter. Notwith-
standing the efforts which I have made to
avoid, in this narration of my journey, the
errors I had to dread, I feel conscious, that
-I have liot always succeeded in separating
the observations of detail from those gene-
ral donsequences, which interest every en-

lightened ipiad* These results comprise in
one view the climate, and its influence on
organized beings, the aspect of the country,
varied according to the nature, of the soil
^nd its vegetable covering, the direction of
the mountains, aod the rivers which sepa-
rate the races of men as well as the tribes
of vegetables ; and finally, those modifica-
tions, which the state of nations, placed in
different latitudes, and in circumstances
more or less favourable to the display of
their faculties undergoes. I am not afraid
of having too much enlarged on objects so
worthy of attention : one of the noblest
privileges, which distinguish modern civiliza-
tion from that of remoter times, is the hav-
ing enlarged the mass of our conceptions,
having rendered us more capable of per-
ceiving the connection between the physical
and intellectual world, and having thrown
a more general interest over objects^ which
heretofore occupied only a small number of
scientific men, because these objects were
contemplated separately, and from a nar-
rower point of view.

It is probable that the. volumes, which I
ara BOW about to pubUsh, will fix the atten^

c2

XX

4;ion of a greater number of readers, than the
detail of observations merely scientific, or
than my researches on the population, the
commerce, and the mines of New Spain*
I lyay therefore be permitted to enume-
rate in this place all that we have hitherto
published. When several works are inter-
woven in some sort with each other, it may
perhaps be interesting to the reader, to
know the sources from which he may ob-
tain more circumstantial infonnation. In
the journey of Pallas, which is so remark-
able for the precision and depth of his
researches, the same Atlas contains geogra-
phical maps, the costumes of different
nations, relicks of antiquity, and figures
of plants and animals. In conformity to
the plan of our work, we have distributed
these plates into distinct parts; having
divided them into the two geographical and
physical Atlasses, which belong to the nar-
rative of the travels, and the Political Essay
x)n the Kingdom of New Spain ; the Views
of the Cordilleras, and the monuments of the
natives of America ; and the Equinoctial
plants, the Monography of the Melastomas,
and the Collection of zoological observations*

XXI

As I shall often be obliged to cite these
different works, I shall mention in notes
the abbreviations, which I have used to in-
dicate the titles.

I. Jstronomical observaiionsy trigonomt-^
trical operations and barometrical measure*
ments made during the course of a journey
to the equinoctial regions of the New Con-
tinent* from 1799 to 1804. This work,
to which are added historical researches
on the position of several points important
to navigators, contains, first, the original ob-
servations which I made from the 12<> of
southern, to the 41® of northern latitude ;
the transits of the sun and stars over the
meridian ; distances of the moon from thesun
and the stars; occultations of the satellites;
eclipses of the sun and moon ; transits of
mercury over the disk of the sun; azimuths;

* Astron. Observations, two volumes in 4to. I
have discussed in the introduction, placed at the head
ot this work, the choice of the most proper instru*
ments to employ in distant journies, the degree of pre-
cision that can be obtained in the different kinds of
observations^ the peculiar motions of certain great
stars of the southern hemisphere, and several methods,
the use of which is* not sufficiently common am^ng
navigators.

ciFcum-raeridian altitudes of the moon, to
determine the longitude by the differences of
the declination ; researches on the relative
intensity of the light of the austral stars;
geodesical measures, &c. Secondly, a trea*
tise on the astronomical refractions under
the torrid zone, considered as the effect of
the decrement of caloric in the strata of the
air; thirdly, the barometric measurement of
the Cordillera of the Andes, of Mexico, of
the province of Venezuela, of the kingdom
of Quito, and of New Grenada; followed by
geological observations, and containing the
indication of four hundred and fifty-three
heights, calculated, according to the me-
thod of Mr. Laplace, and the new co-
efficient of Mr. Ramond; fourthly, a tabic
of near seven hundred geographical posi-
tions on tlie New Continent; two hundred
and thirty-five, of which have been deter-
mined by my own observations, according
to the three coordinates of longitude»
latitude, and height.

II. Equinoctial plants collected in MexicOj
in the Isle oj Cuba, in the provinces of Ca*
raccaSf Cumana^ and Barcelona^ on the
Andfis of New Grenada, Quito, and Peru^

• • •

xxni

and on the hanks ^ the Rio Negro^ thé
Orinoco, and the river of Amazons*.
Mr. Bonpland has given the ^gures of
more than forty newgeneraf of plants of the
torrid zone, classed according toibeirnatu*
ral families. The methodical descriptions
of the ' species are both in French and m
Latin, and accompanied by observations
on the medicinal properties of the plants,
on their use in the arts, and on the chmate
of the countries where they are found.

HI. Monographyofthe Melastomas, rhex*
ia, andother genera of this order of plants^.
This work will comprise upwards erf a

* Equinoctial plants, 2 vols, folio, with more than
1^0 plaies. This number of plates has been greatlj
augmented since M. de Humboldt, wrote this
introduction. The number contained in the two
volumes will exceed 150. See the prospectus of M»
dc Humboldt's works at the end of the volume.

V

f We shall cite here only the genera, ceroxylon,
marathrnm, cassupa/ saccellimn, cheirostemoo, rhe»
tiniphyllum, machaonia, limnocharisy bertholetia, ex«
ostema, vauquelinia, guardiola^ turpiniai salpianthus,
hermesia, cladostyles, Ulœa, culcitium, espeletia,
bonplaudia, platycarpum, andromachia, menodorai
gaylussaica, podopterus, leucophyllum, angelonia.

;{: Melastomas, tl vols, folio^ with coloured plates.

XXIV

hundred and fifty species of rfljelastomaccja,
which we collected during ithjB course
of our jexpeditio.n$, apd which form due pf
thé tiiost beaUtitjui ornament^ of tropica}
Vegetation. M. Bonpland has g^ddpd the
plants of the same family» which, ^mpng sq
toaiiy other rich stores of natural history,
M. Richard collected in his interesting exr
pédition to the Antilles and French Gui-
ana, and pf which he has communicated tq
!as the descriptions,

IV. Essay on the geography of plants^
ùtcùnipanitd with a physical tqble of the
equinoctial HgiQns^ founded on measures
taken from the tenth degree of northern
io the tei}th degree of soy,thern latittfdp*.
t haye endeavoured to collpct under a
single point of view the whole of the phyr
sjcal phaenpmjfena of that part of the New
Cqptirjpnti ppm prised in the torri4 ?one,
from the level of the South Sea to the
highest Summit of the Ande§ ; nair^ely, the

* This tyork, ppnled for the first time in 1806, will
ht reprinted ^ith addition^, and form part of the fifth
division ,ôf the complete collection^ tinder the title of
fiénèrat Physics. I havje explained ll^e first idea$ of
jtlje geography of plants, their natural associations^ ^n^
IftfC hi§iùty qf their ^igtationis^ in my Flora^ Uc.

XXV

vegetation» the animals, the geological facts,
the cultivation of the soil, the temperature
of the air, the limit of the perpetual snows,
the chemical constitution of the atmos-
phere, its electrical intensitjt^its barometrical
pressure, the decrement of gravitation, the
intensity of the a^ure colour of the sky, the
diminution of the light during its passage
through the successive strata of the air,
the horizontal refractions, and the heat of
boiling water at different heights. Four-
teen scales, disposed at the side of a pro-
file of the Andes, indicate the modifications
iwrhich these phaenomena undergo from the
influence of the elevation of the soil above
the level of the ocean.. Each group of
plants is placed at the height that nature
has assigned, and we may follow the pro-^
digious variety of their forms, from the
region of the palms and the fern-trees to
those of the johannesia (chuquiraga,
Juss.) the gramineous plants, and lichens.
These regions form the natural divisions of
tiie vegetable empire; and in the same
manner as the perpetual snows are found
in every climate at a determinate height^
the febrifuge species of the quinquina

XXVI

(cinchona) have also their fixed limits,
which I have marked in the botanical chart
belonging to this essay.

V. Collection of observations on zoology
and comparative anatomy *. I have com-
prised in this work the history of the
condor ; experiments on the electrical ac-
tion of the gymnotus f-; a treatise on the
larynx of the crocodiles, the quadrumani,
and birds of the tropics ; the description
of several new species of reptiles, fishes,
birds, monkeys and other mammalia but
little known. A distinguished man of sci-
ence, whose constant friendship has been
highly honourable and advantageous to me
during a great number of years, M. Cu-
vier, has enriched the collection with a
very extensive treatise on the axolotl of
the lake of Mexico, and on the genera of

* Zoolog. Obs, two vols, in 4to. The first of these
volumes is published with thirty plates, most of which
are coloured. The second volume is far advanced.

+ These experiroenls are connected with those I
published previous to my departure to America, in
the second volume of my essay on the irritability of
the nervous and muscular fibre, ^nd on the chemi*
cal action which keeps up the life of animals and
plants, 1790.

xxvn

the protei in generaL This naturalist has
also recognized two new species of masto*
dontes, and a real elephant, among the
fossil bones of quadrupeds which we
brought from America*; The description
of the insects collected by Mn Bonpland
is due to Mr. Latreille, whose labours have
so much contributed to the progress of en*
tomology in our times. The second vo-
lume of this work will contain the figures
of the Mexican, Peruvian, and Aturian
skulls, which we have deposited in the
Museum of Natural History at Paris, and
on which Mr. Blumenbach has already
published observations in the Decas quin-
ta craniorum diversarum gentium.

VI. Political essay on the kingdom of
New Spainy with a physical and geogra^
phical atlaSj founded on astronomical ob^
servationsj and trigonometrical and baro*
metrical measurement^. This work, found-

* Ann. of the Museum of Nat. Hist. L 8, p. 57^
and pp. 412^ 413, pi. 2, figs. 1, 5.

* Folit.'Ess, &c. in two vols, in 4to, and an Atlaa
of twenty charts in folio. My general map of th^
kingdom of JSew Spain, formed on astronomical obser^
vations, and on the wl\ole of the materials which ex«
iited in Mexico in 1804^ has been copied by Mr.

XXVIU

cd on a great number of official memoirs,
presents, in six divisions, considerations on
the extent and natural appearance of
Mexico, on the population, on the man-
ners of the inhabitants, their ancient civi-
lization, and the political division of their
territory. It embraces at the same time
the agriculture, the mineral riches, the ma-
nufactures, the commerce, the finances,
arid the military defence of this vast coun-

Arrowsmitb, who has appropriated it to himself^ by
publishing it on a larger scale> under the title of
New Map of Mexico, compiled from original Docu"
ments, by Arrowsmitk. It is very easy to recognize
this map from the number of chalcographical errors
tiith which it abounds^ from the explanation of the
signs which he has forgotten to translate from the
French into English, and from the word ocpmti, which
is engraved amidst the mountains, in a place where
the original states^ that the elevated plain of Toluca
is 1400 toises above the level of the ocean. The con-
duct of Mr. Arrowsmith is so much the more repre-
hensible, as neither Messrs. Dalrymple, Rennel,
D' Avcy de la Rochette, nor any oï those other ex-
cellent geographers England boasts, have ever given
hiui the example, either in their maps, or the ana.
lyses which accompany them. The reclamations of a
traveller must appear just, when mere copies of his
I&bours are published under the names of other
persons.

XXIX

try. In treating on these different objects
of political economy, I have endeavoured
to consider them under a general point o^
view ; I have drawn the parallel of New
Spain, not only with the other Spanish co«
lonies, and the confederation of the United
States of North America, but also with
the possessions of the English in Asia ; I
have compared the agriculture of the
countries situate under the torrid- zone,
with that of the temperate climates; and
I have examined the quaVitity of colonial
produce necessary to Europe in the pre-
sent state of its civilization. In tracing
--the geognostic description of the districts
of the richest mines of Mexico, I have
given a statement of the mineral produce,
the population, the imports, and exports,
of the whole of Spanish America ; I have,
upon the whole, examined several ques-
tions, which, for want of precise data, liad
never hitherto been treated with the impor-
tance which they demand ; such as those
on the influx and reflux of metals*, on their

♦ The recent travels of Major Zebulon MontgOp
mery Pike, in the northern provinces of Mexico^
(Account of the Expedition to the sources of the Mis-

/

XXX

progressive accumulation in Europe and
Asia, and on the quantity of gold and sil-
ver, which, since the discovery of America
down to our own times, the old world has
received from the new. The geographical

sidppi, and to the interior Paris of New Spain, Phi»
lade/phia, 1810) contains valuable notions on the ri-
vers La Platte and Arkansas, as well as on the
chain of mountains which extends' to the North of
Kew Mexico, towards the sources of these two rivers:
but the numerous statistical data, which Mr. Pike has

•

collected in a country of the language of which he was
Ignorant, are for the greater part very inaccurate. Ac-
cording to this author, the mint of Mexico coins every
year 50 millions of piastres in silver, and 14 millions
jn gold I while it is proved by the tables annually
printed by order of the Court, and published in the
Political Essay, that, the year in which the produce of
the mines was the most abundant, the coinage
atnoanted only to £5,806,074 piastres in silver, and to
lyS^QfSM piastres in gold. Mr. Pike displayed admi-
rable courage in an important undertaking for the
investigation of western Louisiana; but unprovided
Vfhh instruments, and strictly watched on the road
from Santa Fe to Natchitoches, he could do nothing
towards the progress of the geography of the provin»
das interna». The maps of Mexico, which are annexed
to the narrative of his journey, are reduced from
My great map of New Spain, of which I left a copy,
In 1804, at the secretary of state's of&ce at Wash*
ington.

XXXI

introduction at the begitining of this )}rork
contains the analysis of the materials^
which have !feen used in the construction
of the Mexican Atlas.

VII. Views of the Cordilleras^ and monti^
ments of the indigenous nations of the new
continent*. . This work is meant to display
a few of the great scenes of nature in the
lofty chain of the Andes, and at the same
time throw some light on the ancient civi-
lization of the Americans, from the study
of their monuments of architecture, their
hieroglyphics, their religious rites, and their
astrological reveries. I have given iii this
work a description of the teocalli, or Mex-
ican pyramids, compared with that of the
temple of Belus; the arabesques which
cover the ruins of Mitla, idols in basalt,
ornamented with the ealantica of the
heads of Isis ; and a considerable number
of symbolical paintings, representing the
serpent woman, who is the Mexican Eve ;

: '

* Modam. Amer, one vol. in folio, with 60 plate^
pwrt of which are colojredi accompanied by explana*
tory treatises. This work may be considered as the
picturesque Atlas to the historical narrative of ihé
voyage.

xxxu

thë deluge of Coxcox, and the first migrate
tions of the natives of the Azteck racé.
I have endeavoured to prove the striking
analogies which exist between the calendai'
of the Toltecks, and the catasterisms of
their zodiac, and the division of time of
the people of Tartary and Thibet ; as well
as the Mexican traditions on the four re-
generations of the globe, the pralayas of
the Hindoos, and the four ages of Hesiod.
I have also included in this work, in addi«
tion to the hieroglyphical paintings I
brought back to Europe, fragments of all
the Azteck manuscripts, which are found
at Rome, Veletri, Vienna, and Dresden,
and of which the last reminds us, by its
lineary symbols, of the kouas of the Chi-
nese. Together with the rude monuments of
the natives of America, the same volume
contains picturesque views of the moun-
tainous countries, which these people have
inhabited; such as those of the cataract
of Tequendama, of Chimborazo, of the
volcano of Jorullo, and of Cayambe,
the pyramidal summit of which, covered
with perennial ice, is situate directly un-
der the equinoctial line. In every zone

the configuration of the ground j the physiog»^
homy of the plants, and the iaspect of a
smiling or savage nature, have great in*»
fluence on the pr >gress of the arts, and oa
the style virhich distinguishes their producf^
tions ; and this influence is so much thô
moife perceptible, as man is farther remove
ed from civilization*

I could have added to this wdrk te»-
searches on the character of languages^
which are the most durable monuments of*
nations. I have collected a number of
materials on those of America, of which
Messrs. Frederic Schiegel and Vater have
made use ; the first in his Considerations
on tlie Hindoos, the second in his conti*-
fiuation of the Mithridates of Adelung, in
the Ethnographical Magazine, and in his
Inquiries into the Population of the NevT
Continent. These materials are how ift
the hands of my brother, M. William de
Humboldt^ whoj during his journey ill
Spain, and a long abode at Rome, formed
the richest collection of American Vocabu-*
laries, that has ever existed- His kno\^-»
ledge of the ancient and modern languages
being very extensive, he has made soma

d

XXXIV

curious approximations on this object, so'
important for the philosophical study of
the history of man. 1 flatter myself, that
a part of his labors will find a place in
this narrative.

Of those different works which I have
here enumerated, the second and third
were composed by M. Bonpland, from
the observations which he. made on the
Bpot, in a botanical journal. This jour-
nal contains more than four thousand
methodical descriptions of equinoctial
plants, a ninth part only of which have
been made by me, and vvill appear in a se«
parate pubhcation, under the title of Nova
Genera et Spficies Plantamm. In this
work will be found not only the new spe-
cies which we collected» and the number
of which, after a long examination by one
of the first botanists of the age, Prof. Will-
denow,, amounts to fourteen or fifteen hun-
dred*, but also the interesting qbseryations

* A conûderable part of these species is already in-
serted in the second division of the fourth part of the
Species Plantarum of Linnaeus^ fourth edition. Of
the eringiumsj which we brought over from America,
deveu new species have been engraved in the beatttt*

ixxv

inadé by M; Bonplahdi on thé pilant*
Whîeh have hitherto been irtiperfectly des-
cribed. The plates of this work will be
engraved and executed according to thé
method followed by M. Lâbillardîere, iii
tne Specimen Plantarum Novce Hollandiœ^
which is a model of sagacity in research^
and order in compilation:

The astronomical, geodesical, and bato^
metric observations have been Calculated
In a Uniform manner^ by employing corres-
pondent observations, and according to
tables of the utmost precision^ by Mr. Olt-
manns, professor of astronomy^ and mem-
ber of the academy of Berlin; who undertook
thé publication of my astronomical jour-
nal, which he has enriched with the results
of his inquiries concerning thé geography
of America^ the observations of Spanish,
French, and English travellers, and thé
choice of the methods used by astrono-
mers4 . 1 had calculated, during the coursé
of my journey, two thirds of my own ob-^
»ervations, a part of the results of which

fttl monography of thU getiusy published by M. de 1^
Hoche.

d 9

XXXVl

t

had been published previous to my return,
in the Connaissance des Temps, and in the
Ephemerides of Baron Zach. The trifling
differences, which exist between the results
obtained by Prof. Oltmanns and myself
arise from his having made a more rigorous
calculation frpm the whole of my observa-
tions, and his having employed the lunar
tables of Burg, and of correspondent ob-
servations at Greenwich; Avhile I used
only the Connaissance des Temps, calcu-
lated from the tables of Masson. .

The observations I had made on the dip
of the needle, the intensity of the magnetic
forces, and the small horary variations of
the variation, wiU appear in a separate
treatise, which will ^e added to my Essay
on Geological Pasigraphy. This last work,

which I began ta compose in Mexico,

. ... -

in 1803, will be accompanied by profiles,
indicating the stratification and relative
age of the rocks, the types of which
were observed by Mr. Leopold Von
Buch and myself in the two continents,
between the twelfth of southern and the
seventy-first of northern latitude. Aided
by the labors of this great geologist, who

ÎXXVll

has examined Europe from thé North
Cape in Lapland, and with whom 1 had
the happiness of beginning my eàrUest stu-
dies at the school of Freiberg, I have been
enabled to extend the plan of a work in-
tended to throw some hght on the con-^
struction of the Globe, and on the relative
antiquity of its formation.
' After having distributed into separate
works all that belongs to astronomy, bota-
ny, zoology, the political description of
New Spain, and the history of the ancient
civilization of certain nations of the New
Continent, there still remained a great
number of general results and local de-
scriptions, which I might have collected
into separate treatises. I had prepared
several during my journey ; on the races^
of men in South America ; on the missions
of the Orinoco ; on the obstacles to the
progress of society in the torrid zone, from
the climate, and the strength of vegetation ;
the character of the landscape in the Cor-»
dilleras of the Andes, compared with that
of the Alps in Switzerland; the analogies
between the rocks of thç two hemispheres;
on the physical constitution of the air ill

• ••

\

^e equinoctial regions ; Sec. I had left
Europe yith the firm intention of not
ifcvritiiig what i^ usually called the histori-:
pal narrative of q. journey, but to publish
the fruit of my inquiries in works merely
flescriptive ; and I had arranged the facts,
not in |;he order in which they successively
presented themselves, but according to the
relation they bore to each other. Amidst
the pvcrwhelming majesty pf Nature, and
the stupendous objects 3he presents at
every step, the traveller is little disposed
^o record in hiis journal %yhat relates onr
ly to himself, and the ordinary details of

I had composed à very brief itinerary
fîuring the course of my navigation on the
fiyers of Sopth America, and in my long
journies by land, in which I regularly de?:*
cribed, and almost always on the spot,
tlip excursions wliich I made toward tlie
summit of a volcano, or any other moun- .
tain remarkable for its height; but the
composition of my journal wag interrupted
)¥hehpyer J reside^ in a town, or when
ptUp ^p?PP^lt|pp? prevented me from con-?
tinumg ^ work, which I considered as hay?

XXXIX

ing only a secondary interest. When I
employed myself in the composition, I
had no otlier motive than the preservation
of some'of those fugitive ideââ, Mrhich pre-
sent themselves to a naturalist, the whole
of whose life is passed in the open air; to
make a temporary collection of such facts,
as I liad not then leisure to class; and
trace the first impressions, whether agree-»
able or painful, which I received from na-
ture, or from man. Far from thinking at
the time, that these pages, precipitated ly
composed, would form the basis of an ex-
tensive work to be offered to the public,
it appeared to me, that my journey, though
it might furnish certain data useful to sci-
ence, would present very few of those in-
cidents, the recitals of which give the prin-
cipal charm to an itinerary.

The difficulties which I have experi-
enced since my return in the composition
of a considerable number of treatises, in
qrder to make known certain classes of
phœnomena, insensibly overcame my re-
pugnance to write the narrative of my
journey. In undertaking this task, I nave
been guided by the advice of a numbe

pf respectable personSj who hpnoup me
i^^ith peculiar kindness. I even perceived,
tliat so distinguished a preference is given
tq this sojrt of pomposition, that scientific
inen, aftey h^^ving presented in an isolated
p^iannpr t:he account: of their researches ou
the productions, the nig^nners, and the po-
Ifjitiçal state qf tl^e countries through whicl^
tijey have passed, in^agine th^^t they havp
Bfpl; fulfilled theif* engagements with the
public, till ^hey have written thei|: itinpr

. An histori^l narrative embraces twq
yeyy distinct objects ; the greate}* or les§
Important (eyents that have a cpnnectjoi?
Yfi\h the purpose pf the traveller, and thp
phsej-vations which hp has made durjng hi^
journey- The unity pf composition also,
>vhich distinguishes good works from those
Pti an ill ppnstructed pl^n, can be strictly
pbserved only when the traveller describes
içrhat hast passed under his own eye ; an4
^hçn his principal attention has bpen fixe4
less op scientific observations, than on the
paani^çrs pf a pieople, and thp grpat phacr
iionjepa, of n9.ture. Now, the mosji faith?
lui picture of maancrs is that» which bcS;t

displays the relations of men toward each
other, The character of savage or civi-r
lized nature is portrayed either in the oi>>
staeles which a traveller meets with, or
in the sensations wliich he feels. It is
the man himself that we continually desire
to see in contact with the objects that
surround him ; and his narration interests
U6 the more, when a local tint is spread
over the description of the country and
its inhabitants. Such is the source of the
interest excited by the history of those
first navigators, who, led on by intrepidity
more than by science, struggled against
the elements, while they sought a new
world in unknown seas. Such is the irre-
sistible charm which attaches us to the fate
of that enterprising traveller'^, who, full
of enthusiasm and energy, penetrated
alone into the centre of Africa, in order
to discover amidst barbarous nations the
traces of ancient civilization.

In proportion as voyages have been
made by persons more enlightened, and
whose views have been directed towards
Researches into descriptive natural history,

f Rlungo Park.

xlii

geography or political economy, itineraries
have partly lost that unity of composition,
and that simplicity, which characterised
those former ages. It is now become scarce-
ly possible to connect so many different
materials with the narration of events;
and that part which we may call drama-
tic -gives way to dissertations merely des-
criptive. The great number of readers,
who prefer an agreeable amusement to so-
lid instruction, have not gained by the
exchange ; and I am afraid, that the temp-
tation will not be great to follow those tra-
vellers in their expeditions, who drag along
with them a considerable apparatus of
instruments and collections.

In order to give greater variety to my
work, I have often interrupted the histori-
cal narrative by simple descriptions. I
first describe the phenomena in the order
in which they appeared ; and I afterward
consider them in the whole of their indi-
vidual relations. This mode has been suc-
cessfully followed in the journey of M. de
Saussure, whose most valuable work has
contributed more than any other to the
advancement of the sciences, and often,

xliii

amidst dry discussions on meteorology,
contains many charming descriptions ; such
as those of the modes of life of the inha-
bitants pf the mountains, the dangers of
hunting the chamois, and the sensations
felt on the summit of the higher Alps.

These are details of ordinary life, which
it might be useful to note in an itinerary,
because they serve to regulate the conduct
pf those, who afterwards journey through
' the same countries. I have preserved a
few, but have suppressed the greater part
pf those personal incidents, which offer no
interesting situations, and which can be
rendered amusing only by the perfection
pf style.

With respect to the country which has
been the object of my investigations, I do
not dissemble the great advantages, which
those who travel to Greece, Egypt, the
banks of the Euphrates, and the islands
pf the Pacific Ocean, enjoy over those who
traverse America. In the ancient world,
nations, and the distinctions of their civiliz-
ation formed the principal figures on the
canvass ; in the new, man and his produc*

xliv

lions almost disappear amid the stupendous
display of wild and gigantic nature. The
human race here presents but a few rem-
nants of indigenous hordes, slightly ad-i
vanced in civilization ; or that uniformity
of manners and institutions, which has been
transplanted by European colonists to
foreign shores. What relates therefore to
the history of our species, to the various
forms of government, to the monuments
of the arts, to those places which are full
of great remembrances, affect us far more
than the descriptions of those vast solitudes,
which seem destined only for the display
of vegetable life, and to form the domain
of wild animals. The savages of America,
who have been the object of so many syste-
matic reveries, and on whom M. Volney
has lately published some highly just and
sagacious observations, inspire less interest,
since celebrated navigators have made
known to us the inhabitants of the islands
of the South Sea, in whose character we
find so striking a mixture of perversity and
meekness. The state of half-civilization,
in which those islanders are found, gives, a

peculiar chafm to the description of their
manners. Here a king, followed by a
numerous suite, comes and presents the
fruits of his orchard; there, the funereal
festival imbrowns the shade of the lofty
forest. Such pictures, no doubt, have
more attraction thao those, which' portray
the solemn gravity of the inhabitant of the
banks of the Missouri or the Maranon.

If America occupies no important place
in the history of mankind, and of the
ancient revolutions which have agitated the
human race, it offers an ample field to the
labours of the naturalist. On no other
part of the Globe is he called upon more
powerfully by nature, to raise himself to
general ideas on the cause of the phaeuo-
mena, and their natural connection. I
shall not speak of that luxuriance of vegc»
tation, that eternal spring of organic life,
those climates varying by stages as we
climb the flanks of the Cordilleras, and
those majestic rivers which a celebrated
writer * has described with so much grace*

^ M. Chateaubriand.

xlvi

fui precision. The means which the new
world affords for the study of geology and
natural philosophy in general are long since
acknowledged. Happy the traveller who
is conscious, that he has availed himself of
the advantages of his position, and that he
has added some new facts to the mass of
those which were already acquired !

It is almost useless to recapitulate what I
have already observed in the preface to
the equinoctial plants, that, connected by
the most intimate ties of friendship with
M. Bonpland, during the course of our
travels and the years that have followed,
we publish in common the whole of tile
works, which are the fruit of our labours,.
I have endeavoured to explain the facts,
such as we observed them together; but
this narrative having been composed by
myself, from notes writteil by me on the
spot, whatever errors may be found in
my recital must be attributed to myself
alone.

The observations vre made during the
course of our journey have been distributed
into six sections : the first comprehends

xlvii

the historical narrative ; the second zoology
and comparative anatomy ; the third, the
political essay on the kingdom of Neiv
Spain; the fourth, astronomy; the fifth,
physics and geology ; and the sixth, the
description of the new plants collected in
both Americas. The editors have dis-
played a liberal zeal to render these works
worthy of the public attention. I cannot
pass over in silenCe the frontispiece to this
itinerary. M. Gerard, with whom I have
had the pleasure of being acquainted these
fifteen years, has devoted to me some
moments of his time, and I feel the value
of this public testimony of his esteem and
friendship.

I have carefully mentioned in this work
the persons, who have had the kindness to
communicate to me their observations ;
and in this introduction I ought to express
my gratitude to Messrs. Gay-Lussac, and
Arago, my fellow members of the Institute,
who have annexed their names to important
labours, and who are endowed with that
elevation of character, which is so congenial
to an ardent love of the sciences. Living

xlviii

with them on terms of the most intimate
friendship, I have had the means of con*
suiting them daily on objects of chemistry^
natural history, and several branches of tbef
mathematics. I have already mentioned
in the collection of my astronomical ob-
servations what I owe to the friendship of
Mr. Arago, who, after having terminated
the measure of the meridian of Spain, has
been exposed to so many dangers; and
who unites the talents of an astronomer
with those of a geometrician and a natu*
ralist. At the period of my return I
discussed particularly with M. Gay-Lussacj
the different phenomena of meteorology
and physical geology, which I had an^assed
in my journey. For eight years past we
Jjaye usually dwelt under the same roof in
France, Germany, and Italy ; we have
witnessed together one of the great erup-
tions of Vesuvius ; and have joined our
labours on the chemical analysis of tl]ç
atmosphere, and the variations of terrestrial
magnetism. I have been enabled to avail
myself of the profound and ingenious views
of this chemist, in correcting my ideas re-

xlîx

specting several objects, of which I treat
in the narrative of my journey.

Since I left America, one of those greats
revolutions, which at certain periods agitate
the human race, has burst forth in the
Spanish colonies, and seems to prepare
new destinies for a population of fourteen
millions of inhabitants; spreading itself from
the southern to the northern hemisphere,
from the shores of Rio La Plata and
Chili to the remotest part of Mexico.
Deep resentments excited by colonial legis-
lation, and fostered by mistrustful policy,
have stained with blood those countries,
which had enjoyed during the last three
a^^es what I will not call happiness, but
uninterrupted peace. Already at Quito
the most virtuous and enlightened citizens
have perished victims of devotion to their
country. While I am giving the descrip-
tion of regions, the remembrance of which
is so dear to me, I meet at every step with
places, which recall to my mind the loss

of a friend.

When we reflect on the great political
agitations of the new world, we observe,

VOL. T. ^

1

that the Spanish Americans aïe by no means
in so favourable a position as the inhabi*
tants of the United States, prepared for
indépendance by the long enjoyment of
constitutional liberty. Internal dissensions
are chiefly to be dreaded in regions, where
civilization is but slightly rooted ; and where,
from the influence of climate, the forests
may soon regain their empire over cleared
Iknds, if their culture be abandoned. It
is also to be apprehended, that, during a
long series of years, no foreign traveller
will be enabled to traverse the whole of the
countries, which I have visited. This cir-
cumstance may perhaps add to the interest
of a work, that portrays the state of the
greater part of the Spanish colonies at the
beginning of the 19th century. I may even
indulge the hope, under the influence of
more soothing ideas, that this work will be
thought worthy of attention, when the
passions shall be hushed into peace ; and
when, under the influence of a new social
order, those countries shall have made a
rapid progress towards public welfare. If
then some pages of my book are snatched

li

rom oblivi on, the inhabitant of the banks
of the Ori noco will behold with extasy, that
populo us cities enriched by commerce, and
fertile fields cultivated by the hands of
freemen, adorn those very spots, where,
at the time of my travels, I found only im-
penetrable forests, and inundated lands.

<"

JOURNEY

TO THE ' "

EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS

o»

THE NEW CONTINENT.

mmiatÊmmmmbssat

• * '

'■■ ■■••■^ •■•■■- • --'BOOK I.-' ■

.-.■>•; .-. ; . CHAPTER'!. ::■■!:,■>'<

«

Frepdraiions. — Instrum ents. — Departurie Jram
Spain. — Landing at the Canary Islands.

• . I .| : ■

When- a govQjnamçnt undertakes one of îtjiasô
maritime. expfjditions,, which coipitributes tQ the
knowledge of thef globe, and the progress of natural
philosoj^y^ tharè is no obstacle to the accomplisht
ment of» its .'purposely The tinde of departure, an4
Ihe direction erf the voyagi? may be, fixe4> whenever
thei; vessel . is .^qj^ipped, s(û4 a&troaomgrs and
naturalists are appointed tp traverse unknown seas%
The : islands. >aild /coa^tis, ^ the productions of which
these travellers ^ace ipileparéd to Qxasnine^ are sub^
ject tp <tiie infiuanoe ofiot? Eitfop^an: policy. If it

.B

happen that the freedom of the seas be interrupted
by lencjtbened hostilities, passports are mutually
granted by the belligerent powers, and partial
enmities disappear before the advancement of
general knowledge, which is the common cause of
all nations. Far different is the situation of a
private individual, who undertakes a journey at
his own expense into the interior of a continent,
over which Europe has extended its system of
colonization. The traveller in vain meditates the
plan, which he judges the most convenient either
for the object of his investigations, or the political
state of the country he intends to examine; hé
collects in vain all his resources, which in distant
regions may secure him for a long time an indé-
pendant existence i his designs are often thwarted
by unforseen obstacles, at the^ moment that he
thinks of putting them into execution. Few in-
dividuals have had greater difficulties to struggle
with thati myself, before my departure for Spanish
America; I should spare the recital, and beg^ti
this narrative by the expedition to the summit of
the Peak of Teneriffe, had not the fiùlure of my
first projects had a decided influence on the direc;
tion I have given my travels since my return from
the Orinoco. I shall, however, pass rapidly over
those events, which have no intereA for science,
but which Ï wish to present in their true light.
The curiosity of the public being of tener fixed ob
the persons of travellers than on their worka^ what

'»

delates to the first [dans I had traced out, has
been strangely disfigured*

From my earliest youth I had felt an ardent
desire to travel mto distant regions, which Eu-
ropeans had seldom visited. This desire is the
characteristic of a period of our existence, when
life appears an unlimited horizon, and when we
and an irresistible attraction in the impetuous
agitations of the mind, and the image of positive
danger. Educated in a country which has no
direct communication with the colonies of either
India, living amidst mountains, remote fronpi the
coasts, and celebrated for their numerous mines,
I felt an increasing passion for the sea and dis*
tant expeditions. The objects with which we are
acquainted only by the animated narratives of
travellers have a particular charm; imagination
• wanders with delight over what is vague and un*
defined i and the pleasures of which we are de-
prived seem possessed of a fascinating power, com*

* I here beg leave to observe, that, I never bad the slightest
knowbdge of a work iki six volumes, published by VoUmer» at
Hamburg, under the strange title of ^' Voyage round the
■ World, and ih South vAraerica, by A. de Humboldt.'^ This
xtarrative, which ap}>eared in my name, was compiled, it
seems, from accounts given in the public papers, and from
memoirs which I read to the first class of the Institute. Th»
Compiler, with a view of engaging the attention of the public,
thought he might give to an expedition made to sonie parts
•f the New Continent the more attractive title of Voyage
round the World.

B 2

4

pared to which all we daily feel in the narrow
circle of sedentary life appears insipid. The taste^
for herborisation, the study of geology, • rapid ex-
cursions to Holland, England, and France, with
the* celebrated Mr. George Forster, who had the
happiness to accompany Captain Cook in his
second expedition round the globe, contributed to^
give a determined direction to the plan of travels,
which I had formed at eighteen years of age. No
longer deluded by the agitation of a wandering
life, I was anxious to contemplate nature in all iti$
variety of wild and stupendous scenery ; and the
hojye of collecting some facts useful to the advance-
ment of scieitce incessantly impelled my wishes
towards the luxuriant regions spread under the
torrid zone. As my personal, isituation then pre-
vented me from executing the projects, by which I
. was so powerfully influenced, I had' leisure to pre-
pare myself during six years'foi* the 'dbservatiods
I purpoi^ed to make on the New "Continent, t6
visit different parts of Europe, and explore the
lofty chain of the Alps, the structm='e of which I
might afterwards compare with tHat of the An-
des, of Quito, and of Peru. As I employed
Successively instruments of different construe*
tionsj I fixed my choice on those which appeared
to mie the most exact, and the least subject t6
break in the carriage. I had an 'opportunity of
repeating measurements, which had been taken
according to the most rigorous methods ^f.aiid I

learnt from experience the extent of the errors, to
which I might be exposed.

r

I had traversed a part of Italy in 1 7 95 y but
had not been able to visit the volcanic regions of
Naples and Sicily ; and I regretted Jeaving Europe
without having seen Vesuvius, Stromboli, and
iSEtna. I felt, that in order to form a proper
judgment of a great number of geological phe-
nomena, especially of the nature of the rocks of
trap formation, it became necessary to have
examined strictly the phenomena offered by burn-
ing volcanoes. I determined therefore to return to
Italy in the month of November, 1797. I made
a long stay at Vienna, where the fine collections
of exotic plants, and the friendship of Messrs. de
Jacquin, and of Mr. Joseph Van der Schott were
highly useful to my preparatory studies. I
travelled with Mr. I^opold de Buch, who has since
published an excellent wprk on Lapland, through
several cantons of Salzburgh and Styria, countries
alike interesting to the landscape-painter and the
geologist ; but at the moment I was passing the
Tyrolese Alps, the war which raged in Italy obliged
me to abandon the project of going to Naples.

A short time before, a person who was passion-
ately fond of the fine arts, and who had visited the
coasts of Greece and lUyria to inspect their monu-
ments, made me a proposal to accompany him in
an expedition to Upper Egypt. This expedition
was to last only eight months: provided with

astronomical instruments and able draughtsmeOi
we were to ascend the Nile as far as Assouan,
after minutely examining the positions of the
Saïd, between Tentyris and the cataracts. Tiiough
my views had not hitherto been fixed on any re-
^on beyond the tropics, I could not resist the
temptation of yisiting countries so celebrated in
the- annals of human civilization. I therefore
accepted this proposition, but with the express
condition, that on our return to Alexandria I
should be at liberty to continue my journey
through Svria and Palestine. I directed hence-
forth my studies in conformity to this new project,
which I afterward found useful, when I exa-
mined thç relations between the barbarous monu*
ipents of Mexico, and those belonging to the na*
tions of the old wprld» I thought myself on the
point of embarking for Egypt, when political
events forced me to abandon a plan, which pro-
mised me so much satisfaction. The situation of
the East was such, that no individual could hope
to pursue operations, which even in the most
peaceful times often expose the traveller to th<5
suspicion of its governments.

An expedition of discoveries in the Southern
Ocean, under the direction of Captain Baudin,
was^ then preparing in France. The first plan was
great, bold, and worthy of being executed by a
more enlightened commander. The purpose of
this expedition was to visit the Spanish posses*

sîons of South America, from the mouth of the
river Plata to the kingdom of Quito and the isth-
mus of Panama. After traversing the Archipe-
lago of the great Ocean, and exploring the coasts
of New Holland, from Diemen^s Land to that of
Nuyts, both vessels were to stop at Madagascar,
and return by the Cape of Good Hope. I was
at Paris when the preparations for this voyage
were begun. I had but little confidence in the
personal character of captain Baudin, who had
^ven' cause of discontent to the Court of Vienna,
when he was commissioned to conduct to Brazil
one of my friends, the young botanist, Mr. Vain
der Schott ; but as I could not hope, with my
own resources, to make a voyage of such extent,
and view so fine a portion of the globe, I deter-
mined to take the chances of this expedition. I ob-
tained permission to embark, with the instruments
I had collected, in one of the vessels destined for
the South Sea, and I reserved to myself the liber-
ty of leaving Captain Baudin, whenever I thought
proper. M. Michaux, who had already visited Per-
sia, and a part of North America, and M. Bon-
pland, with whom I formed a friendship that still
unites us, were appointed to accompany this expe-
dition as naturalists.

I had flattered myself during several months
with the idea of sharing in labors directed to so
great and honorable an object, when the war,
which broke out in Germaiiy and Italy, determined

the French government to withdraw the funds
granted for their voyage of discovery, and ad-
journ it to an indefinite period. Cruelly deceived
in my . hopes, seeing the plans which I had been
forming during many years of my life overthrown
in a single day, I sought at any risk the sp)eed*
ie$t means of quitting Europe, and engaging in
some enterprise, which might console me for my
disappointment.

I became acquainted with a Swedish Consul, Mr.
Skioldebrand, who, appointed by his Court to car-
ry presents to the Dey of Algiers, passed through
Paris, in order to embark at Marseilles. This esti-
mable man had resided a long time oji the coasts
of Africa; and being highly rpspecte<d by the go-
vernment of Algiers, he could easily procure nje
permission to visit that . part of the chain of
the Atlas,.: which had not been the object of the
important researches of M. Desfontaines. He
despatched every year a vessel for Tunis, where
the pilgrims embarked for Mecca, and he pro-
mised to convey me by the same occasion to
Egypt. I eagerly seized so favorable an op-
portunity, and thought myself on the: point of
executing a plan, which I had formed previous
to my arrival in France. No mineralogist
had yet examined that lofty chain of moun-
tains, which in the empire of Morocco rises to
the limit of the perpetual snows. ^I flattered my-
self» that» after executing some: useful operations

&i the,. Alpine regions of B^rbary, I should re-
ceivç; in Egypt from those illustrious men, who
)iad for some months formed the Institute of
Cairo, the same kind attentions, with which I had
been honored during my abode ia Paris. I has-
tily completed my collection of instruments, and
purchased works which related to the coun-
tries I was going to visit I separated myself
from a brother, who by his advice and example
had hitherto exercised a great influence on the
direction of my thoughts. He approved the mo-
tives which determined me to quit Europe ; a ser
cret voice assured us, that we should meet again ;
and that hope, which has not proved delusive^
softened the pain of a long separation. I left
Paris with the intention of embarking for Algiers
and Egypt ; but in consequence of one of those
vicissitudes, which sway the affairs of this life, I
returned to my brother from the river of Ama-
zons and Peru, without having touched the conti«
nent of Africa.

The Swedish frigate, which was to convey Mr*
Skioldebrand to Algiers, was expected at Mar*
seilles toward the end of October.^ M. Bonplan(i
and myself repaired thither with so much the
jnorc celerity^ as during our journey we were tor-
mented with the fear of being too late, and mis-
j^ing our passage. We did not at that time fore-
see the new impediments that awaited us.

» ■ ■ ■ •

Mr. Sl^old^hrand was no less impatient than

10

ourselves to reach his place of destination* Se-
veral times a day we climbed the mountain of
Notre Dame de la Garde, which commands an
extensive view of the Mediterranean. Every sail
which we descried in the horizon excited in us
the most powerful emotion ; but after two months
of anxiety, and vain expectation, we learnt by the
public papers, that the Swedish frigate, which was
to convey" us, had suffered greatly in a storm on
the coasts of Portugal, and had been forced to
enter the port of Cadiz, to refit. This news was
confirmed by private letters, assuring us that the
Jaramas, which was the name of the frigate,
would not reach Marseilles before the Spring.

We had not the courage to prolong our stay iii
Provence to this period. The country, and espe-
cially the climate, were delightful, but the aspect
of the sea reminded us of the failure of our pro-
jects. In an excursion we made to Hyeres and
Toulon, we found in this last port the frigate
la Boudeuse, which had been commanded by Mr;
de Bougainville in his voyage round the world,
'fitting out for Corsica. This illustrious naviga-
tor had honored me with particular kindness du-
ring my stay at Paris, when I was preparing to
accompany the expedition of Captain Baudin. I
cannot describe the impression made upon my
mind by the sight of the vessel which had carried
Commerson to the islands of tlie Southern Sea*
There are dispositions of the soul, in which a

11

painful emotion blends itself with all ouf fe^-
mgs.

We still persisted in our intention of visiting
the African coasts^ and were nearly becoming the
victims of this perseverance. A small vessel of
Ragusa, on the point of setting sail for Tunis,
was at this period in the port of Marseilles ; we
thought the opportunity favorable to reach Egypt
and Syria, and we agreed with the captain for our
passage. [The vessel was to sail the following
day, but a circumstance, trivial in itself, happily
prevented our departure. The animals that were
to serve us for foodj during our passage, were
kept in the great cabin. We desired that some
changes should be made, which were indispensa-
ble for the safety of our instruments ; and during
this interval we learnt at Marseilles, that the go^
vernment of Tunis persecuted the French residing
in Barbary, and that every person coming from a
French port was thrown into a dungeon. Having
escaped this imminent danger, we were compelled
to suspend the execution of our projects, and re^
solved to pass the winter in Spain, in hopes of
embarking the next spring» either i^t Carthagena,
or at Cadiz, if the political situation of the East
permitted.

We crossed Catalonia, and the kingdom of Va-
lentia» in our way to Madrid. We visited the
ruins of Tarragona, and those of the ancient Sa*
guntum ; and from Barcelona made an excursion

13

to Mont serrât*, the lofty peaks of which are in-
habited by hermits, and where the contrast be-
tween luxuriant vegetation, and masses of naked
and arid rgcks, forms a landscape of a peculiar
character. I employed myself in ascertaining by
astronomical methods the position of several im-
portant points for the geography of Spainf, and
determined by means of the barometer the height
of the central plain;}: ; and I made several observa-

^ Mr. William de Humboldt, who travelled through the
whole of Spain, a short time after my departure from Europe,
has given a description of this place in the Geographical
Ephemerides of Weimar for 1803.

t Astronomical Observations, Vol. 1. Introduction, page. 35
to 37, and lib. 1, page 3 to 33. At this period the latitude
of Valencia was still several minutes uncertain. 1 found the
cathedral (which f ofino places in 39° 26^ 30^0 to be ZSP %V
42", latitude, and 0* 11' 0*3 "longitude. Four years later,
Baron de la Puebla and M. Mechain fixed this point by ze^
nith distances taken with a repeating circle, and by the occul-
tations of stars, to be 39° 28' 37-6" latitude, aid 0° 1 1' 0-(J"
longitude. At Murviedro (the ancient Saguntum) I deter,
mined the position of the ruins of the temple -of Diana, near
the convent of the Trinitarians. These ruins are in 30° 40' 96"
lat. and OMO' 34" longitude.,

X See my notice on the configuration of the territory of Spain
in the itinerary of M. de la Borde, vol. 1, p. 147. According
to M. Bauza, the medium height of the barometer at Madrid
is 26 inches 2*4 lines, whence it results, according to the
method of M. Laplace, and the new coefficient of M. Ra-
mond, that the capital of Spain is 309 toises (603 metres)
above the level of the ocean. This result is nearly the same
«s tbatfoondby Don Jorge Juan, and published by M. La-

la

tions on the inclination of the needle, find on the ,
intensity of the magnetic forces. The results of
these observations have been separately published,
and I shall enter into no detail on the natural
history of a country, in which I resided only six
months, and which has recently been examined by
so many well-informed travellers.

On my arrival at Madrid I had reason to con*
gratulate myself oii the resolution I had taken to
visit the peninsula. Bait^on de Forell, minister
from the- court of Saxony, treated me with a de»
gree of kindness, of which I soon felt the value.
He was well versed in mineralogy, and had the
purest zeal for every undertaking, that promoted
the progress of knowledge. He observed to me^
that under the administration of an enlightened
minister, Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, I might
hope to obtain permission to visit, itt my own ex*
pense, the interior of Spanish America. After the
disappointments I had undergone, I did not hesi*
tate a moment to adopt this idea.

.■:■:».••■ • ' • . ' - •

IsMideifby.wliich the height o£ Madrid aboy« the.level of Parit
is ^94 toises (Mem. of the Acad.. 1776, page 148). The
l^ghesi mountain of the peninsula is not> as has been hitherto
thought, moiht Perdu, hut the Mulahacen, which forms part
of the iSiérra Nevada of Grenada. This peak, according to
the gebdesieal meiasurement of Don CJemente R<»xas, is 182%
toispsofahaolute haght^whilst/Mount Perda, ii| the Pyrenees,

is only 1763 toises. Near the Mulahacen ir fitoate the Pico

■'-■■■ • • ' • • -'*^^

4e Veleta, which is 1781 toisei.

^ ,

u

I was presented to the court of Aranjuez in
March, 1799. The king received me graciously*
I. explained to him the motives, which led me to
undertake a voyage to the new continent, and the
Philippine islands, and I presented a memoir on
this subject to the secretary of state. Mr. d'Ur-
quijo supported my demand^ and overcame every
obhtacle. The conduct of this minister was so
much the more generous, as I had no personal
connection with him, and the zeal which he coQ-
atantly showed for the execution of my projects
had no other motive than his love for the sciences.
J feel that it is ne less a duty than a pleasure, to
record in this work the services which he rendered
me.

I obtained two passports, one from the^ first
.secretary of state, the other from the council of
the Indies. . Never had so extensive a permission
been granted to any traveller, and never had any
foreigner been honoured with more confidence on
the part of the Spanish government. To dissipate
every doubt, which the viceroys or captains general,
representing the royal authority in America, might
entertain with respect to the nature of my labors, the
passport of the primera secretaria de estado stated,
that I was authorised to make free use of my
instruments of physic and geodesy^ that I might
make astronomical observations through the whole
of the Spanish dominions, measure the height of
mountains, examine the productions of the soil^

IS

and execute all operations which I should judge
useful for the progress of the sciences*. These
orders of the court were strictly followed, even
after the evients which obliged Mr. d*Urquijo to
quit the ministry. I endeavoured on my part to
justify by my conduct these marks of unceasing
attention. During my abode in America, I
presented the governors of the Provinces with a
duplicate of the materials which I had collected,
and which mi^t interest the mother country by
throwing some light on the geography and the
statistics of the colonies. Agreeably to the c^er
I had made before my departure, I addressed
several geological collections to the cabinet of
natural history of Madrid. The purpose of Our
journey being merely scientific, wi succeeded in
conciliating the friendship of the natives, and that
of the Europeans entrusted with the administration

• * s

;

. * OrcieDa S. M .^ a los Capitanes generates, comandantes,
goberoadores, yntelidentes, corregidorcs y demas jusUcias na
impidan por ningun xnotivq la cenduccion de los instrumentos
de fisica, quimlcjEt» astroaomià y.matematicas» ni el hacer ea
todas las posessiones ultramaj-inas las observaciones y experi*
meotos que juzgoe utiles, coma tan^oço el colectar librement
te plantas, animales, senoBlas y minérales, medlr la altura de
Io8 montes, examinar la naturaleza de estps y hacer obsenref
ciones astronomieas y descubrisnentos utiles para el progressa
de las ciencias : pues por el contrario quiere el Rey que todas
las personas a quienes cprresponda, den al B. de Humboldt
todo el favof, aoxilio y proteccion que nécessite. (De Arati^
juez, 7 de mayo 1799.)

of diesÊ vadt countries. During tEie five yeaftf
that we travelled, throughout the new continent,
we did not perceive the slightest mark of mistrust ;
and we remember with pleasure, that amidst the
most painful privations, and whilst we .were. 8trug«
gling against the obstacles which arose from the
siEiv^e state of those regions, we never had ta
cpnqpjain of the injustice of men»

Many . considerations might have induced u»
to prolong our abode in Spain* .■ The Abbe Cavar
nillea, no less remarkable for the variety of his
attainments than bis acute intelligence, Mr; Neci^
who, together with Mr. Hœnke^ had, as botaoist^
tQAde part of the expedition • of Malaspina^ and
lyho had formed* one of the greatest herbali
^al; was ever seen in Europe; Pon Casimir
Qrtega,{the Abbe Edurret, and the teamed authors
of tbQ Flora of Peru, MessrSé Ruiz and Pavon,
opened to us without restriction their rich collec-
tions» We examined part of the plants of Mexico,
discovered by Messrs, Sesse, Mocino and Cervan-
tés, whose drawings had beeh sent to the Museum
of Natural History of Madrid, This great esta-
blishment, the direction of which was confided to
Mr. Clavijo, author of an elegant translation of the
works of Buffon, offered us^ it is true, no geolo-
gical suite of thé Cordilleras, but Mr. Proust^ so
well known by the great accuracy of his chemical
labors, and a distinguished mineralogist, Mr. Her-
gen, gave us curious details on several mineral subi-

/

ir .

stanéès of America. It would have been ùseftil to us>
to have employed a longer time in stud3'ing the pro-
ductions of the countries; which were to be the ob"
jecfs of our researches, but our impatience to take
advantage of the permission given us by the court
was top great, to suffer us to delay oiir departure.
Fora year past, I had experienced so many disap-
pomtments, that I could scarcely persuade myself,
that'my tfaost ardent wishes would bè at length
fulfilled.', •>

We left Madrid about the middle -'eif May,
croslsied a part of Old Gastile, the kkigdomd of
Léon and Galicia, and reached Gorunna, whence
\ve were to embark for the Island of Cuba; ' The
winter having been long and tempestuous^ we en-
joyed during the journey that mild temperature of
the spring, which in so southern a latitude if
cbttitrionly that of March and April. The snow-
still covered the lofty granitic tops of the Guada-
rama ; but in the deep vallies of Gttllicia, which •
resemble the most picturesque spots of Switzerland
and the Tyrol, cistuses loaded with flowers and
aborescent heaths clothed every rock. We quitted
without regret the elevated plain of the two Castiles
which is every where deprived of vegetation, and
where the severity of the winter's cold is followed
by the over whelnoing heat of summer. Frofti the
few observations I personally made, the interior
of Spain forms a vast plain, which;j elevated three
hundred toises (five hundred and eighty-four

VOL. I. c

18

metres) above the level of the. ocean, is covered
with secondary formations, grit stone^ gypsum^
salgem, and the calcareous stone of Jura.
The climate of the Castiles is much colder than .
that of Toulon and Genoa ; for its mean temper- .
ature scarcely rises to 15° of the centigrade
thermometer*.

We are astonished to find, that in the latitude
of Calabria, Thcssaly, and Asia Minor, the
orange-trees do not flourisii in the open air f. The
central elevated plain is encircled by a low and
narrow zone, where the chamaerop?, the datQ-tree,
'the sugar, cane, the banana, and a number of
plants cQpimpn to Spain and the north of Africa,
vegetate on several spots, without suffering from
the rigors of winter. From the 56th to the 40th
degrees of latitude, the medium temperature of the
year is from 17 to 20 degrees; and by a con-
currence of ehrcumstances, which it would be too
long to explain, this happy region is become the
principal seat of industry and intellectual im- ,
provement

* Wlienever in the course of this work, tBe contrary is not
exprffsslj indicated, the variatious of the temperature are
noied after the centigrade scale of the thermometer with
mercury ; but to avoid the errors which may arise from tb«
reductions of the different scales, and the frequent suppressioh
of decimal fractions^, X ^^^^ printed the partial observations,
such as the instrument I made use of gave me. On thif
point I have followed the plan adopted by the illustrious
author of the Basii f^the Metrictd System^ M, Delambre.

f For the note «ee the following page.

19

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20

Ascending from'the shores of the Mediterranean
into the kingdom of Valencia, towards the lofty
plains of La Mançha and tlie Castiles, we seem
to recognize far inlàhd, from the lengthened de-
clivities, the ancient coast of the Peninsula. Tliis
curious^ phenomenon recalls the traditions of the
Samothracians, and other historical testimonies,
according to which it is supposed, that the eruption
of the waters through the Dardanelles, augmenting
the basin of the Mediterranean, rent and over-
flowed the southern part of Europe. If we admit
that these traditions owe their origin, not to mere
geological reveries, but to the remembrance of
some ancient catastrophe, we see the central ele-
vated plain of Spain resisting the efforts of these
great inundations, till the draiping of the w^aters,
by the straights- formed between the pillars of
Hercules, brc)Ught the Mediterranean progressively
to its present level, while lower Egypt emerge4
above its surface on the one side, and the fertile
plains of Tarragon, Valencia^ and Murcia, on tivb
other. Every thing that relates to the formation of

this sea*, which has had so powerful an influence

• . .

♦ Diodor. Sicul. edit, Wesseliog, Amstelodiiirr., 174^6,
Lib. IV, c. 18, p. 336; Lib, V^ c. 47, p. 369- Dionyt.
Ilaljcarn.ed.-Oxon, 1704, Lib. I, c.61,.p. 4P. Aiislot. Opp*
omn. ed. Casaub. Lugdun. 1590. Meteordog. Lib I, c. 14«
t. I, p. 336. H. Strabo^Geogr.ed. Thomas Falc«ner. Oxon.
ISOt, t. I, p. 76 et SSv (Tournefort, Voyage au levant,
p. 124. Pattas, Voyage en Russie, t. V, p. 195. Choiseul-
Gouffier, Voyage pittoresque, t. II, p. 116. Doreau deU
Malfe, Géographie physique de la met Noire, p. 157, 196, ,ct

21

on the first civilization of mankind, is highly in-
teresting. We might suppose, that Spain, forming a
promontory amidst the waves, was indebted for its
preservation to the height of its land ; but in order
to give weight to these systematic ideas^ wç must
clear up the doubts that have arisen respecting the
rupture of so many transverse dikes; we must
<ji8cuss the probability of the Mediterranean having .
been formerly 'divided into several separate basins,
of which Sicily and the Isle of Crete appear to
mark the ancient limits. We will not here risk the
solution of these problems, but will satisfy ourselves
in fixing the attention on the striking contrast in
the configuration of the land in the eastern and
western extremities of Europe. Between the Baltic

341. Olivier, Voyage en Perse, t. Ill, p. 130. Meioers
u1>er die Verachiedenheiteu der Menschennatureny p. 118.)
Some of tlie ancient geographers, snch as Straton, EratosU
henes, and Stràbb, believed, that the Mediterranean, '■ «welled
by the water&of the £uxine^ the PalQt Meotis» the Caspiaa
sea, and the lake Aral, had broken the pillara of Herculçs ;
otli^ers^ such as Poiuponius Mela, admitted, that the irruption. *

was made by the waters of the ocean. In the first of these

./. • "^ . ■ ■ ». ...

hypotheses, the height of the land between the Black Sea and
the Baltic, and between the ports of Cette anA fioardéaux,
determine the limit, which the accumulation of the waters may
have reached before the junction of the Black sea> the Méditer^
rauean, and the Ocean, us well to the north of the Dardanelles»
as to the east of this strip of land, which formerly joined
Europe to Mauritania, and of which in the time of Straha
pertain vestiges rems^ined in the"Islands of Juno and the
Moon. ' .... ■'.••.■ k .. .4 .' i

22

and the Black Sea, the ground is at present
scarcely fifty toises above the level of the ocean^
while the plain of La Mancha, if placed between
the sources of the Niémen and the Borysthcnes,
would figure as a group of mountains of consider-
able height. If the causes, which njay have
changed the surface of our planet, be an interesting
speculation, investigations of the phenomena, such
as they offer themselves to the measures and
observations of the n^^turalist, lead to far greater
certainty. '

From Astorga to Corunna, especially from Lugo,
the mountains rise gradually. The secondary
formations gentry disappear, and are succeeded by
the transition rocks, which indicate the proximity
of primitive strata. We found considerable
mountains composed of th£i.t ancient gray stone,
which the mineralogists of the school of Freiboarg
qame grauzvajcke^ q-nd grauwakkensç/iiefer. I do
not knpw whether this, formation, which is not
frequent in the south of Europe, has hitherto been
diécovetfed in otb^r parts of Spain. Angular frag-»
ments of lydian stone, scattered dong the vallies,
seemed to indicate,' that the tranaitioji schist is the
basis of the strata of grauwakk^, Near Corunna
even granitic ridges stretch as far as Cape Ortegal,
These granites j which seem formerly to have been
contiguous to those of Britanny and Cornwall, are
perhaps the wrecks of a chain of mountains de^
Stroyed and sunk in the waves, Large and
beautiful crystals of feldspath characterize this.

23

Il ' . .

roek; the commoir tin ore îs sometimes a^- •
cx)Vèréd théré, the working of which is a laborioi^
and unprofitable operation for the inhabitantb cf
GaHiçîa. ' - J

" When we reached Corunna, we found the port
biockaded by an En:^rish man of war and two
frigates, which were stationed to intercept thé

•

communication between the mother- country and
the American colonies ; since it was from Corunna,
and not from Cadiz, thait a packet boat (correo
maritimo) sailed every month for the Hkvannâh,'
and another every two months for Buenos Ayres,
or the mouth of the river Plata; I ôhall in the
course <^f my work pive an exact statement of the
posts on the new continent; and shall here only
observe, that since the administration of Count
Florida Blanca, the service of the land post office
has been so well organized, that an inhabitant of
Paraguay, or of the province of Jaen de Braca-
moros*, may carry on a regular correspondence
with New Mexico, or the coasts of California, at a
distance equal to that from Paris to Siam, or from
Vienna to the Cape of Good Hope. In the same
manner, a letter confided to the post in a sninll
town of Aragon arrives at Chili, or in the missiuiv^^
of the Oronoco, provided the name of.^e cnrw
mento, or district that comprises the In c^aa vi
to which the letter is addressed, be di.. i

marked. It is pleasmg to recall to mii!

* On the banks of the river of Auiazum.

24

tîons, which may be considered as among the great- .
est benefits of modern civilization. The establish-
ment of maritime and inland posts has placed jtl;ie
colonies in more intimate intercourse with each
other, and with the mother-country. The circula-
tion of ideas is become more expeditious; the
complaints of the natives reach Europe with more
facility, and the supreme authority has sometio^es
succeeded in repressing vexations, which, from the
distance of the platce, would have remained for
ever unknown.

The first secretary of state had recommended
us very particularly to the brigadier Don Raphael ,
Clavijo, who had lately been named director-
general of the maritime posts. This officer, dis^
tinguished for his talent in ship-building, w^s em-
ployed in forming new dock-yards at Corunna,
He qeglectcd nothing to .render our abode at this
port agreeable, and advised us to embark on board
the sloop Pi^arro*, which was to sail in coujpany
with the Aleudia, the packet-boat of the month of *
May, which, on account of thje blockade, had been
detained three. weeks \\\ tlie port, Ihe Pizarro
was not esteemed a swift sailer ; but she had ha|)pily
escaped the English vessels in her long voyagq
from the nVyer Plata to Corunna. Mr. Clavijo
ordered the ji(^ccssary arrangements to be made oa
board tbe.^loop for placing our instruments, and

•- %j *

* According to the Spanish nomenclature, the Pizarro wa9
alight frigate (fragaiu igffM)*'* v^J

fecilitating the means of making cbemical ex peri*
ments on the air, during our passage. The
captain oi the Pizarro received orders 1;o stop at
TeûçriiF, as long as we should judge necessary, \o
jvisit the port of Orotava, and ascend the peak^

We had yet ten days to wait before we embarked^
iivhich .seemed to us a long delay. During this
interval, we employed ourselves in preparing the
plants we had^ collected in the beautiful valies of
Gallicia^ which no naturalist had yet visited : we
^xafnined the fuci and the molluscœ which the
north west winds had cast ^ith great profusion at
the foot of the steep rock, oij which the light-house
of the tower of Hercules is built. This edifice,
called also the Iron Tower, was repaired in 1/88^
It is nioety-rtwo feet high, its walls, ^e four feet and
à half thick, and its construction clearly proves, that

m

it was built by the Romans. An inscr^ptipn dÂ3-
covered near its foundations, ft.topy of which.
M. Laborde obligingly gie^ve me, informs us, thalt
this pharos W9» constructed by Caius Sevius Lti^puia^
architect of the city of Aqua Flavia (Chaves), and
that it was dedicated to Mars. Why is the Iron
Tûwer called in the country by the name of Her;
eules ? Was it built by. the Romans on the ruios of
a Greek, or Phoenician edifide? Stiabo, indeed^
affirms, that Gallicia, • the country of the Callécî^
had t)feeii peopled by Greek colonies. Accordhig
ito an extract from, the geograpfeiy of . Spain^ by

S6

étated, that the companions of Hercules had
settled in these countries *;

I made the necessary observations ^to assure
myself of the rate of going of Lewis Berthoud's
time^keeper, and I had the satisfaction to find, that
it had not changed its diurnal retardation, notwith-
standing the shocks it had met with in our journey
from Madrid to Corunna. This circumstance was
tiie more important, as much uncertainty existed
respecting the true longitude of Ferrol, the centre
of which town is !(/ 20''^ east of the tower
of 'Hercules at Cfcrunna. An occultation
of Aldebaran, and a long series of eclipses of
Jupiter's satellites, observed by Admiral Maizar-
Tedbl and calculated by Mechain, seemed to prove
that, in the maritime atlas of Tofino, which is in
other respects so accurate in the indication of
partial distances, the determinate positions of
Corunna and Ferrol were inexact by two or three
leagues. My time -keeper confirmed these doubts
respecting the operations of Tofinoi I found f

• Strabo, ed, Casaub, Lutet. Par. 1020, Ub, III, p. 157,
I'be PKœnicians and Greeks visited ibe coasts of Gallicia.
(GàllaBcia) to trade for tin, wbicb tbey drew from this country
as \iiEill as from the Cassiteridee* Strabo^ Lib. Ill, p. 147^
plm. Lib, XXXiy, c, H. :

:. t Observât. Astrop. Iatrod« p. xxxvi, 1. 1» p. 24 et 33;
Espinosa, Memoriaa ^obre las observaciones s^stron. hecbas
por lbs navegàntés ^ espaiioles, 1809, t. i» p. 23. If we
iuppose, tbat^Vtiy clironoueter did not augment its diurnal
Tétar«kitk>'n dadAgtbe piaisage froiai Madrid to Corunna^ whieh

■fir

tiie observatory of t^ Admiralty at Ferrol
0^ 42/ ^\o west of Paris. The mean of all the

A*-

observations g^ade by the Spanish astronomers,
^nd lately published by Mr. Espinosa, gives
flh 4g/ J. 5//^ I jjg^g already observed, that

several expeditions having set sail from this last
port, (he. £a)sé position, which has been laid down,
has had a disadvantageous influence on the longir
tudes of several towns qf America, determine^
not by absolute observations, but only by. the
differjÇfiç^ of time. Although time-keepers extend
the. limits of our geographical knowledge, they
often contribute to propagate the mistake in the
longitude of the point of departure, because they
reqder the position of the coast in the most distant
regions dependent on this single point.

The ports of Ferrol and Corunna communi-
pate with the same bay, so that a vessel driven by
had. weather . towards the coast may anchor in
jpither according to the wind. This advantage
is invaluable, where thei sea is almost always tem-
pestuous^ as between the Capes Ortegal and
Finisterre, which are the promontories . Trileu^
cum and Artabrum* of the ancient geography.
A oarrow passage, ^^ipked by perpendicular rocks

would be contrary ^0 direct experiments made, at Marseilles,
' (iie longitude of Ferrol will still be 2y^ of time more tlian
that at which it i^ fixed by Mr. Tofino,
j * Ptoleiny cites the port of the Artabri : Geogr, Lib. IL
cap. 6. {B€rtiiTheàtr.gcograph.vet.Amtt<i.^ 16I8, p. 34.)

28

»

of granite, leads to the extenèîve basin of Ferrdl.
No port in Europe has so extraordinary an an-
chorage, from its very inland position. The if ar-
row and tortqous passage, by which vessels enter
this port, has been 0|>ened, either by the irruption
X)f the*waves, or by the reiterated shocks of very
^violent earthquakes. In the New World, on the

r

tioasts of new Andalusia, the Laguna del Obispo,
i(Bishop's lake) is fcrm 3d exactly like the port *6f
Fôrroi The most Curious geological phenomena
•are often repeated at immense distances oîa^tHè
surface of continents; àtid thé naturalists, who
have examined different parts of the globe, are
Struck with the extreme resemblance observed' in
Jthe rents on coasts, in the sinuosities of the Vfidliesi
in the aspect of the mountains, and in tlieir distori-
{^udon by groups. The accidental concurrence
of the same causes must have every where prb*
diiced the same effects ; and amidst the variety
of nature, an analogy of structure * îéltïd form Is
observed in the arrangement of bfute miàlter, ûi
Well as in the internal organization of plants atid of
«nimals.

Crossing from Corunria to Ferrol, in shallow
water, neat the White Signal, in the bay, which
according to d'Anville is the Portus Magnus of
the Ancients, we niade several experiments by means
of a valved thermometçîcal squnding lead, on the
température of the ocean, and on the decrement of*
caloric- in - the successive strata of water. The

29

thcrmoipçter on the bank, and near the • si^rface^
was from 12*5^ to IS*3** centigrades, while in deep :
water it constantly marked 15* orl5*3®^ the air.-
being at 12'8''. The celebrated Franklin, andj
Mr. Jonathan Williams, author, of the work
which appeared at Philadelphia under ther title of.
TUermometrical Navigation, were the first to in-: *
vitp the. attention of naturalists to the phpenomena
ot the temperature of the ocean over , shoaU» ;
and in that zone of tepid and flowing waters, ■
which rufls f^'om the Gulf of Mexico to the Banks
of Newfoundland, and the northern coasts of
Europe. The observation, that the proximity of a
sand-bank is indicated by a rapid descent of the
temperature of the sea at its surface, is not only in*
teresting to tlie naturalist, but may become also
very important for the safety of navigators. The
use of the thermometer ought certainly not to lead .
us to neglecj; the use of the lead; but the
exjpieriments, which I shall mention in the course
of this naurrative, sufficiently prove, that variations
of teipperature, sensible to the most imperfect
instruments, indicate danger long befor^ the ves-
sel reaches jthe shoals. In sucli cases, the frigid-
ity of Jhe water may engage the pilot to heave the ,
lead in places, where he tlmught himself iu the
most perfect safçty.. We shall' examine in ano-
ther place thQ, natural causes of these complicated
phpenoimena ; and shall only here observe, that .
tb^, watery which cover the shoals owe in a great

30

measure -the diminution of their temperature to
their mixture with the lower strata of water,
which rise towards the surface ori the edge of the
banks.

A heavy sea from the North-west hindetied us
from continuing our experiments on the tempera-
ture of the ocean in the bay of Ferrol. The great
height of the waves was the effect of an impetu-
ous wind at sea, and forced the English vessels
to retire from the coast. Desirous to avail our-'
selves of this opportunity of sailing, we instantly
embarked our instruments, books, and baggage;
but the west wind, which blew still more impetu-
ously, did not permit us to weigh anchor, and
during this delay we wrote to our friends in '
France and Germany. The moment of leaving
Europe for the first time is attended with a so^
• lèmn feeling. We in vain summon to our minds
the frequency of the communication between the
two worlds ; we in vain reflect on the great facility,
with which, frOm the improved state of navigation,
we traverse the Atlantic, which compared to the
great ocean is but a larger arm of the sea ; the
sentiment we feel when we fiist undertake so dis*
tant a voyage is not the less accompanied by a
deep amotion, unlike any other impression we
have hitherto felt. Separated from the objects of
our dearest affections, entering in some sort on a
new state of existence, we are forced to turn back .
on the family of our thoughts, and we find them

SI

ift a situation which they have never known Before.
Among the letters^ which I wrote at the time of
our embarking, one had a considerable influence
on the direction of our travels, and on our sujc-
ceeding operations. When 1 left Paris with the
intention of visiting the coasts of Spain, the expe-
dition for discoveries in the Southern Ocean seem-
ed to be adjourned for several years. I had
agreed with Captain Baudin, that if, contrary
to his expectation, his vo3'age took place at aa
earlier period^ and the news should reach me in
time, I would endeavour to return from Alters to
a port in France, or Spain, to join the expedition,
I renewed tliis promise on leaving Europe, and
wrote to M.^ Baudin, that if the government peiV:
sisted in sending him by Cape Horn, I would
endeavour to meet him, either at Monte Video,
Chili, or Lima, or wherever he should touch in the
Spanish Cdonies. In consequence of this en-
gagement, I changed the plan of my journey,, on
reading in the American papers, in 1801, that the
French expedition had sailed from the port of
Havre, to make thé tour of the globe from, east
to west. I hired a small vessel from Batabano,
in the Island of Cuba, to Portobello, and
thence ^crossed the isthnius to the coasts of the
southern ocean ; this mistake of a journalist led
M.^ Bonpland and myself to travel eight hundred •
leagues through a country we had no intention to ^
visit. It was only at Quito, that a letter from M.

sa

tkieLmhre, perpetual secretary of thé first !t:Ia9s x)f
the institute, ^ informed us, that Captain Baudin .
went by the Cape of Good Hope, without touch-
ing on the eastern or western coasts of America.

I cannot recal without regret an expedition,
which is connected with several events of my life,
and the history of which has latçly been sketched
by a * man of science, no less distinguished for
the number of his discoveries, than by thé fioble
courage which he displayed in circumstances of
extreme difficulty and danger.

When I went into Spain I could not carry with
me the complete collection pf roy pbysical, geo-
desieal, and astronomical instruments. Ibddieft
the duplicates at Marseilles, with the intention-^ of
ordering them to be sent to Tunis or Algiers,
when I should find an opportunity of passing
over to the coasts of Bàrbary. In peaceable '
times travellers ought by no means to carry with
them the complete collection of their instruments }
they should on the contrary cause them to be spnt
successively, in order to replace such as suffer
most by use and carriage.- This precaution is
particularly necessary, when they are obliged to
determine a great number of points by means
m^ely chroiK)nletrical. But in times of maritime

• ^ Mr.. Peron, lost to the sciences at thirty ûvé years of
age, after .^flong and painful .illness. See an interesting me-
iDoir on the life of this traveller^ by Mr. Dcleuze, in his An-'
nales du Museum, t. ]7«

33 ,

war&réy it is highly prudent never to lose f^ijuiht
either of instruments, manuscripts, or collections.
Sad experience, as I have observed io the intro-
duction to this work, has confirmed the justness
of this observation. Our abode at Madrid and
Corunna had been too short, to transport from
Marseilles the meteorological apparatus I had
left.

It was in vain that I requested its being sent
to the Havannah, after our return from the Ori-
noco; neither the apparatus nor thç achromatic
telescopes, nor the timekeeper by Arnold, wliich I
had sent for to London, reached America. Tlie
following is the list of the instruments 1 had col-
lected for my journey from the year 17y7j and
which, excepting a small number easy to replace,
served me till 1 804

LÎST OF THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL

INSTRUMENTS.

A timekeeper by Lewis Berthoudy No. 27.
This timekeeper had belonged to the celebrated
Borda/ I have published the detail of its rate
of going, in the introduction to my collection of
astronomical observations;

A demi'chronometer by Seyfftrt^ serving for as-
certaining the longitude at short distances ;

A three-foot achromatic telescope by Dollondj in-
tended for the observation of Jupiter's satellites ;

VOL, I. P '

34

A telescope by Caroché, of less dimensions, with,
an apparatus to fix the instrument to the trunk
of a tree, in forests ;

A lunette cC épreuve^ with a micrometer engraved
on glass, by M. Kohler, astronomer at Dres-
den. This apparatus, placed on the plane of the
artificial horizon, serves to level bases, to
measure the progress of an eclipse of the siin or
the moon, and determine the value of very
small angles under which very remote mountains
appear ;

A sextant by Rarnsden^ of ten inches radius, with
a silver limb, and telescopes which magnify
from t<velve to sixteen times ;

A snuffbox sextant by Troughton, of two inches
radius, with a nonius divided into minutes, teles-
copes which magnify four times, and an artificial
horizon of crystal. This small instrument is
very useful for travellers when forced in a boat
to lay down the sinuosities of a river, or take
angles on horseback without dismounting ;

A reflecting and repeating circle by Le Noir, of
twelve inches diameter, with a mirror of platina* ;

A theodolite by Hurter^ the azimuth circle of •

which was eight inches in diameter ;
'An artificial horizon by Caroché^ of plane glass,

* I have compared in another place the advantages and
disadvantages, in long journeys, of the reflecting instruments
and astronomical repeating circles. (Astron. Obscrv. Introd.
t. I, p. 17.)

35

jsîx inches in diametefy with an air bubble level,
the divisions of which are equivalent to two
sexagesimal seconds ;
A quadrant by Bird, with a radius of a foot,
furnished with a double division of the limb into
ninety and ninety-six degrees, the micrometer
screw indicating two sexagesimal seconds; the
perpendicularity of the plane capable of being
. determined by means of a plummet and a large
air-bubble level ;
A graphometer by Rarnsden, placed on a cane,
with a magnetic needle, and a wire meridian
to take magnetical azimuths ;
A dippwg needle of twelve inches, constructed on the
principles of Borda and Le Noir. This instru-
ment, of the most perfect éxecution, was ceded to
me, at the time of my departure, by the French
board of longitude. The figure of this instru-
ment, will be found in the narratiye of the
voyage of d'Entrecasteaux*, the astronomical
part of which was composed by a learned
navigator, M. de Rossel. An azimuth circle
sijrvés to find the plane of the magnetic meri-
oiân, cither by correspondent dips, or by
seeking the position in which the needle is
vertical, or observing the minimum of the
dippings. The instrument is verified by ob-

* Vol. ii, p. 14.

D 2 \

S6

serving on the east and west sîcïe, and chang-
ing the poles :

A variation compass by Le Noir, constructed on
the principles of Lambert, and furnished with
a wire meridian. The nonius was divided at.
every two minutes ;

A needle twelve inches long, furnished with sig/it-
raneSj and suspended to an untwisted thread
according to the method of Coulomb. This
apparatus, like the magnetic telescope of Pf*oni/y
served me to determî he the small horary variations
of the magnetic variation, and the intensity of
the forces which change with the latitudes.
The oscillations of the great magnetic dipping
needle of M. Le Noir give also a very exact
measure of this last phenomenon.

A magnetometer of Saussure *, constructed by
M. Paul at Geneva, with a limb th^t corres-
ponds to an arch of three feet radius ;

An invariable pendulum^ constructed by Mr*
Megnie, at Madrid ;

Two baj'ometers by Ramsden ;

Two barometrical apparatuses^, with the aid of
which we find the mean height of the barometer,

* This magnetometer, which I found inaccurate, the theodo-
lite, and rfcfleciing circle, are the only instruments which 1
could not embark with me at Corunna.

t I have described this apparatus in the Journal de
Physique, t. xlvii, p. 468, and in my Qbserv, A&troa,
t. i, p. 366.

3^7

by successively plunging into a vç3sel several
glass tube§, filled vi^ith mercury, closed at
one end by a • steel screw, and placed in a
metal case ;

Several thermometers by Paul, Ramsden^ Megnie^
and Fortin ;

Two hygrometers of Saussure and Deluc, of hair
and whalebone ;

Tvi^o electrometers of Bennet and Saussure, of
gold leaf and elder pith, furnished with Èonr
ductors four feet long, to collect, according to
the method prescribed by Mr. Volta, the
electricity of the atmosphere, by means of an
ignited substance which yields smoke;

A cy ammeter by Paul. To give me the means of
comparing with semie certainty the blue colour
of the sky, as it is seen on the summit of the
Alps and the Cordilleras, M. Pictet had this
cyanometer colored conformably to the division
of that which M. de Saussure made use of at
the top of Mount Blanc, and during his memor-
able abode at the Col du Géant ;

An eudiometer of Font ana, for nitrous gas ; with^
out strictly knowing how many parts of this gas
are necessary to saturate a portion .of oxygen,
we may still precisely determine the quantity of
atmospheric azote, and consequently the purity
of the air, by employing, beside the nitrous
gas, the oxygenated muriatic acid, or a solu-
tion of sulphat of iron. Volta's eudiomejter,

38

though the most exact of any, is embarrassing
for travellers, who traverse damp countries, on
* account of the small electric discharge, which the
inflanjmation of oxygen and hydrogen gasses
requires. The most portable eudiometrical ap-
paratus, the most speedy and most eligible in
every respect, is that published by M. Gay-
Lussac in the memoirs of the society of
Arcueil* ;

A phosphoric eudiometer by Reboul. By tlie
nice researches of Mr. Thenard, on charcoal
mixed with phosphorus, it is proved, that the
slow action of this acidifiable basis f yields re-
sults less exact than strong combustion ;

An apparatus by Paul, proper to determine with
the greatest precision the degree at which water
boils at different heights, above the level of the
ocean. The thermometer with a double nonius
had been constructed from the apparatus, which
M. de Saussure employed in his excursions ;

A thermometrical lead by Dumoticr^ consisting
of a cylindric vase, furnished with two conical
valves, and enclosing a thermometer ;

Two areometers of Nicholsoii and Dollond ;^

A compoUitd microscope of Hofmann^ described in

* Vol. 2, p. 235, See also the memoirs in the composi-
tion of the air which I puhlished conjointly with Mr. Gay-
Lussac in the Journal de Physique, vol. lix, p. 129, and my
Zoological Observations, vol. i, p. 256.

f Bulletin of the Philoraatbic Society, 1812; No 37, p. 93.

99

the history of the Cryptogamiae by Mr. Hedvrig ;
a standard metre by Le Noir, a laîid surveyofi
chain; 2kn assay -balance ; sl 7*ain gauge ; tubes
of absorption to indicate small quantities of
carbonic acid and oxygen, by means of lime-
water, or a solution of sulphuret of potash ; some
Hauifs elect roscopical apparatuses ; vases to
measure the quantity of the evaporation of
liquids in the open air j a mercurial artificial
ho?uzo7i ; small Leyden phials to be charged by
rubbing; galvanic apparatus ; reagents to try
some experiments on the chemical composition
of mineral waters, and a great number of small
tools necessary for travellers to repair such in-
struments as might be deranged from the fre.
quent falls of the beasts of burden.

We spenjt two days at Corunna, after our instru-
ments were embarked* A thick fog, which covered
the horizon, at length indicated the change of
weather we so anxiously desired. On the 4th of
June, in the evening, the wind turned to the north
east, a point, which, on the coa3t of Gallicia, is con-
sidered very constant during the summer. The
Pizarro prepared to sail on the 5th, though we had
intelligence but a few hours before, that an English
squadron had been hailed from the watch tower of
Sisarga, appearing to stand towards the mouth of
the Tagus. Those who saw our ship weigh anchor,
asserted that we should be captured in three days,

40

t

and that, forced to follow the fate of the vesse',
ti-e should be carried to Lisbon. This prognostic
gave us the more uneasiness, as we had known
some Mexicans at Madrid, who, in order to re-
turn to Vera-Cruz, had embarked three times at
Cadiz, and who, having been each time taken at
the entrance of the port, were obliged to return
to Spain through PortugaL

The Pizarro set sail at tvvo in the afternoon.
As the long and narrow passage by which a ship
sails from the port of Corunna opens towards the
north, and the wind was contrary, we made eight
short tacks, three of which were useless. A fresh
taôk was made, but very slowly, and we were for
some moments in danger at the foot of the fort St.
Amarro; the current having driven us very near^
the rock, on which the sea breaks with considerable
violence. We remained with our eyes fixed on
the castle of St' Antony, where the unfortunate
Malaspina * was then a captivé in a state prison.
On the point of leaving Europe to visit the
countiies which this illustrious traveller had
visited with so much advantage, I could have
wished to have fixed my thoughts on some object
less affecting.

At half [last six we passed the tower of Her-
cules, which is the lighthouse of Corunna, as
we have alieady mentioned, and where, from the

* Essai Politique sur le 1M«xique, t. I, p. 338. Observ.
-Astron. l. I, p. 34.

41

remotest times, a coal fire is kept up for the direct
tion of vessels. The light of this fire is no way
proportionate to the beautiful construction of so
veist an edifice; being so weak, that the ships cannot
perceive it till they are in danger of striking on the
shore. Towards the close of day, the wind in*
creased, and the sea ran high. We directed our
course to the north west, in order to avoid the
English frigates, which we supposed, were cruiz-
ing off those coasts. About nine we spied the
light of a fishing hut, at Sisarga, which was the
last object we beheld in the west of Europe. As
we advanced, this feeble light mingled itself with
the stars, which rose on the horizon ; and our eyes
remained involuntarily fixed on this object. Such
impressions are not easily effaced from the memory

s

of those who have undertaken long voyages,' at an
age when the emotions of the heart are in full
vigour. How many remembrances are awakened
in the imagination by a lumiijious point, which in
the midst of an obscure\ night, appearing at in-
tervals above the swelling waves, points out the
coast of our native home !

We were obliged to run under our courses, at
the rate of ten knots, though the vessel was not
constructed for making such way. At six in the
morning the ship rolled so much, that the fore-top
gallant mast was carried away, but without any
disagreeable consequence. As we were thirteen
days in our passage from Corunna to the Canary

42

Islandi?; it was long enough to expose us to the
danger of meeting English vessels, on stations so
much frequented as the coasts of Portugal. No
sail however appeared in sight Ihe first three days,
which gave encouragement to the crew, who were
no way prepared for fighting.

On the 7th we were in the latitude of Cape Finis-
terre. The group of granitic rocks, which forms part
of this promontory, like that of Torianes and Mont
de Corcubion, bears the name of the Sierra de -
Torinona. Cape Finisterre is lower than the
neighbouring lands ; but the Torinotia is visible at
sea at 17 leagues distance, which proves that thé
elevation of its highest summit is not less than 300
toises (582 metres). The Spanish navigators pre-
tend, that on these coasts the magnetic vaca-
tion differs extremely from that observed at sea.
M. Eory'*^, it is true, in the voyage of the
sloop Amaranth, found, in 1751, that the
variation of the needle, determined at the Cape,

m

was four degrees less than could have been con-,
jectured from the observations made at the same
period, along the coasts. In the same manner a$.
the granite of Gallicia contains tin disseminated in
its mass, that of Cape Finisterre probably contains
micaceous iron. In the mountains of the Upper
Palatinate, there are indeed granitic rocks, in

* Mémoires de L'Académie des Sciences, 1768, p. 280.
Reurieu, Voyage de l'Isis, t. i, p. 225.

43

which crystals of micaceous iron take the place of
common mica.

The 8th, at sunset^ we descried from the mast-
head an English convoy, which sailed along the coast,
steering towards the south east. In order to
avoid it, we altered our course during the night.
From this moment no light was permitted in the
great cabin, to prevent our being seen at a distance.
This precaution, used on board allmerchant vessels,
and prescribed in the regulations of the packet-
boats of the royal navy, was extremely irksome
to us during the passages we made in the course
of the five following years. We were constantly
obli<jed to make use of dark-lanterns to examine
the temperature of the water, or read the divisions
on the limb of the astronomical instruments. In
the torrid zone, where twilight lasts but a few
minutes, our operations ceased almost at six in
the eveninîî. This state of things was so much the
more displeasing to me, as froiri the nature of
my constitution I never was subject to sea-sick-
ness, and feel an extreme ardour for study during
the whole time I am at sea.

A voyage from the coast of Spain to the
Canary Islands, and thence to South Ame-
rica, is scarcely attended with any event which
deserves attention, especially when undertaken in
summer. The navigation is often less dangerous
than crossing one of the great lakes of Swit-
zerland, I shall therefore confine myself in this

44

narrative to the general results of the magnetic
and metcrcological experiments, which I made in
this part of the ocean ; and offer some observations,
which may prove interesting to navigators. What-
ever relates to the variations of the temperature
of the air, and that of the sea, tlie hygrometrical
state of the atmosphere, the blue colour of the
sky, the inclination and intensity of the magnetic
focus, will be found collected in my journal at the
end of the thifd chapter, where it will be seen,
from the detail and number of experiments, thsjt
we endeavoured to make the best use possible of
the instruments with which we were furnished.
It were to be wished, that the same observations
could be repeated in the African and Asiatic sea,s,
to indicate, exactly the constitution of the atmos-
phcre which covers the great basin of the waters.
The 9th of June, latitude 39** 50^ and longitude
16* 10^ west of the me^idia^n of the observatory
of Paris, we began to feel the effects of the great cur-
rent, which li'om the Azores directs itself toward^
the straits of Gibraltar, and the Canary Islands.
Comparing the place of our ship deduced from
Bçrthoud's time-keeper with the |)i!ot's reckoning,
I was able to discover the smallest variations in
the direction and velocity of the currents. From
57** . to 30** of latitude, the vessel was some-
times, carried in twenty-four hours, from eighteen
to twenty-six miles to the east. The direction of
the current w as at first E by S, but nearer the

45

straits ît became due east. Captain Mackin-
tosh, and one of the most distinguished navigators
of our time, Sir Erasmus Gower, have noticed the
modifications of this movement of the waters at
different seasons of the year. Several pilots who
frequent the Canary Islands have found them-
selves on the coasts of Lancerotte, when they
expected to make good their landing on the Isle
ofTenerifF. M. de Bougainville*, in his passage
from Cape Finilterre to the Canary Islands, found
himself in sight of the Isle of Ferro, 4** more to
the east than his reckoning indicated.

The current which is felt between the Azores,
the southern coasts of Portugal, and the Canary
Islands, is commonly attributed to that tendency
•towards the east, which the straits of Gibraltar im-
press on the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. M. de
Fleurieu, in notes added to the voyage of Captain
Marchantf, observes even, that the Mediterranean,
losing, by evaporation, more w^ater than the
rivers can supply, causes a movement in the neigh-
bouring oceah, and that the influence of the Straits
is felt at the distance of six hundred leagues.
Without derogating from the sentiments of esteem
which I owe to this celebrated navigator, from
whose works I have derived much instruction, I
may be permitted to consider this important
object in a far more general point of view.

♦ Voyage round the World, vol. i, p. 10.
f Vol. ii, p. 9 and 229.

46

^ When we cast our dyes over the Atlantic, or
that deep valley which divides the western coasts
of Europe and Africa from the eastern coasts of
the new continent,, we distinguish a contrary di-
rection in the motion of the waters. Between the
tropics, especially from the coasts of Senegal to
the Caribbean sea, the general current, that
which was earliest known to mariners, flows con-
stantly from east to w est. This is called the Equi-
noctial current. Its mean rapidity, corresponding
to different latitudes, is nearly the same in the
Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean*, and may be
estimated at ni^e or ten niiles in twenty-four hours,
consequently from 0*39 to 0*65 of a foot every second!
In those latitudes the waters run towards the west,
with a velocity equal to a fourth of the rapidity of
the greater part of the large rivers of Europe. The
movemqnt of the ocean, in a direction contrary to
that of the rotation of the globe, is probably con-
nected with this last phœnomenon^ only as far as the
•rotation changes the polar winds, which, in the
low regions of the atmosphere, bring back the cold
air of the high latitudes towards the equator, into

* In comparing the observations which I had occasion to
make in the two hemispheres, with those which are laid dowD
in the voyages of Cook, La Peyrouse, d'Entrecasteaux, Van«
couver, Macartney, Krusenstern and Marchand, I found that
the swiftness of the general current of the tropics, varies
from 5 to 18 miles in twenty-four hours, or 0*3 to 1'2 feet
çach second.

47

trade winds *. To this general impulsion, which
these trade winds give the surface of the seas, we
must attribute the equinoctial current, the forjce
and rapidity of which are not sensibly modified
by the local variations of the atmosphere.

In the chsuinel which the Atlantic has dug be-
tween Guiana and Guinea, on the meridian of
20 or 23 degrees,, from the 8th or 9th to the 2d
pr Sd degrees of northerii latitude, where the
:trade winds are often interrupted by the winds
which blow from the south, and south-south-west,
the equinoctial current is more inconstant in its
direction. Towards the coasts of ^frica, the ves-
sçls are drawn towards the south-east ; whilst to-
wards the Bay of All-Saints and Cape St. Augus-
tin, the coasts of which are dreaded by navigators
who are sailing towards the mouth of the Plata ;
the general motion of the waters is masked by a
particular current, the effects of which extend irom
Cape St. Roche to the Isle of Trinidad; and which
runs north-west with a mean velocity of a foot
or a foot and a half every second.

The equinoctial current is felt, tliongh feebly,
even beyond the tropic of Cancer, in the 26th and
28th degrees of latitude. In the vast basin of

* 'Ualiej/y on the cause of the general trade toinds, in the
Philosoph Ti ans. for the year 1735, p. 58. Dalton, Mcteorolog,
Exp. and Essay s y 179S, p. 89. Laplace, Explan, of the System
(if the Worlds p. 227» The limits of the < rade winds were,
for the first time, determined by Dampierre, in KjO'G,

48

the Atlantic, at six or seven hundred leagues from
the coasts of Africa, the vessels from Europe bound
to the West Indies, find their sailing accelerated be-
fore they reach the torrid zone. More to the
north, under 28 and ^35. degrees, between the
parallels of TenerifF and Ceuta, in 40' and 48
degrees of longitude, no constant motion is ob-
served ; there, a zone of 140 leagues in breadth
separates tlie equinoctial current, the tendency of
which is towards the west, from that great masS
of water which tuns towards the east, and is dis-
tinguished for its extraordinary high temperature.
To this mass of waters, known b}^ the name of the
Gulf-stream *, the attention of naturalists was di-
rected in J 776 by the curious observations of
Franklin, and Sir Charles Blagden. Its direction
having lately become an important object of inves-
tigation among the English and American naviga-
tors, we must go farther back, to take a more general
view of this phaenomenon.

The equinoctial current drives the watere of the
Atlantic towards the coasts inhabited by the
Mosquito Indians, and towards those of Hon-
duras. The New Continent, stretching from
south to north, forms a sort of dyke to- this cur-
rent. The waters are carried at first to the north-
west, and passing into the gulf of Mexico through

♦ Sir Francis Drake had already observed this extraordi*^
nary movement of the waters, but he was unacquainted with
their elevated temperature.

the strait which is formed by False Cape and
Cape Sti AafeODio» follow the bendings of the
Mexican coast, from Vera Cruz to the mouth of
the Rio del Norte, and thence to the mouths
of the Missisippi, and the shoals to the west of
the southern extremity of Florida. > Having made
this vast circuit to the west, the north, the east,
and the south, the current takes a new direction
towards the n<Mlh^ and throws itself with impetu*
osity into the Gulf of Florida. I there observed,
in the month of May, 1 804, in the - S6th and
S7th degrees of latitude, a celerity of eighty miles
in twenty-four hourSf or five feet every second,
though at this period the north wind blew with
gr^t violence. At the end of the Gulf of ¥lo
rida, in the parallel of Cape Cannaveral, the
Gulf^stream, or current of Florida, runs to the
north-east. Its rapidity resembles that of a tor«>
rent, and is sometimes five miles an hour. Tbt
pilot may judge, with some certainty, of the error
of his reckoning, and of the proximity of his ap-
proach toward New York, Philadelphia, or Charles-»
town *, when he reaches the edge of the stream ;

* The current of Florida flows at greater distances froq^ tl^ç
coasts of the United States> as it advances towards the north.
Its position being exactly marked in the new maritime chartt,
the navigator finds the longitude of the vessel to half a degree,
when he is on the brink of the current, where the eddy begins,
tf he obtain a good observation for the latitude. This method
» practised by a great number of captains of merchani ships
who cross from Europe to North America.

50

for the elevated temperature of the waters ; thefr
strong saltnessy indigo-blue colour, and the
shoals of sea-weed which cover the surface, as
well as the heat of the surrounding atmosphere,
sensible even in winter, all indicate the Gulf-
stream. Its rapidity diminishes towai*ds the north,
at the same time that its breadth increetses, and the
.waters, cool. ^Between Cayo Biscaino and the
bank of Bahama *, the breadth is only 15 leagues,
whilst in the latitude qf 28 degrees and a half, it
is J 7^ and in the pÉirallel of Charlestown, oppo-
site. Cape Henlopen, from 40 to 50 leagues. The
rapidity of the current is from three to five miles
an hour, where the stream is the narrowest, and
is only one mile as it advances towards the north.
;The waters of the IMexlcan Gulf, forcibly drawn
to the north-east, preserve their warm teiâpera-
ture to such a pomt, that at 40 and 41 degrees
of latitude I found them at a2-5* (18^ R.), when,
OiJt of the current, the heat of. the ocean at its
surface was scarcely 17*5^ (14*^ R.)- In the pa-
rallel of New Ywk and Oporto, tlie temperature
of the Gulf-stream is consequently equal to that
of the seas of the Tropics in the 1 8th degree of
latitude ; as for instance, in the parallel of Porto
Rico» and the islands of Cape Verd»

* Journal of Andrew EUicott^ Commissioner of the fJnited
SiatoSp for determining the boundary on the Ohio and Misaisippi^
).8Q3> p» S60. Hifdraulic and nautical Observations on the jit^
lantic Ocean^ bi/ Gov* P.ownall. (Load. 17870

ôl

To the east of the port of Boston, and on the
meridian of Halifax, under 41** 26^ of latitude,
and (57® of longitude, the current is near 80 leagues
broad. From this point it turns suddenly to the
east, so that its western edge, as it bends, be-
comes the western limit of the running waters,
skirting the extremity of the great bank of New-
foundland, which Mr. Volney ingeniously calls
the bar of the mouth of this enormous sea river ♦.
The cold waters of this bank, which according to
my experiments are at the temperature of 8'7® or
10** (7® or 8® R.) present a striking contrast with
the waters of the torrid zone, driven to tiie north
by the Gulf-stream, the temperature of which is
from 21* to 22-5^ (;7® to 1«<^ R.). In these lati-
tudes, the caloric is distributed in a singular manner
throughout the ocean ; the waters of the bank are
9*4** colder than the neighbouring sea; and this
sea is 3** colder than the current. These zones. caa
have no equilibrium of temperature, having a
source of heat, or a cause of refrigeration, which
is peculiar to each, and the influence of which is
permanent f .

♦Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats-Unis, T. 1, p. 2S0,
ftomme, Tableau des Venis, des Marées et des Courants, T*
1, p. 228.

f In treating of the temperature of the ocean, we should
carefully distinguish four very different phaenomena ; — 1st, the
temperature of the water at its surface corresponding to dif«
ferent latitudes, the ocean being considered as in repose ; Sdly,

£ 2

52

From the bank of Newfoundland, or from the
52d degree of longitude to the Azores, the Gulf-
stream continues its course towards the east, and
the east-south-east. The waters still preserve a
part of the impulsion they have received near a
thousand leagues distance, in the Straits of Flo-
rida, between the Isle of Cuba, and the shoals
of Tortoise island. This distance is double
the length of the course of the river of the
Amazons, from Jaen or the Straits of Man-
seriche to Grand-Para. On the meridian of the
isles of Corvo and Flores, the most western of
the group of the Azores, the breadth of the cur-
rent is 160 leagues. When vessels, on their re-
turn from South America to Europe, endeavour
to make these two islands to rectify their longi-
tude, they constantly perceive the motion of the
waters to the south-east. At the 33d degree of
latitude the equinoctial current of the tropics is in
the near vicinity of the Gulf-stream. In this part
of the ocean, we may in a single day pass from
waters that flow towards the west, into those which
run to the soutli-east or east-soâth-east.

From the Azores, the current of Florida turns
towards the Straits of Gibraltar, the Isle of Ma-

thc décrément of caloric in the successive strata of the water ;
3dly, the effect of the cleep shoals on the température of the
ocean ; 4thly, the temperature oL the carients, which cause
the waters of one zone to pass with acquired velocity acirosa
the motfonless waters of another zone.

53

^eîra, and the grotip of the Canary islands. The
opening of the Pillars of Hercules has no doubt
accelerated the motion of the waters towards the
east. We may in this point of view assert, that
the strait, bv which the Mediterranean cOmmu-
nicates with the Atlantic, produces its effects at
a great distance; but it is probable also, that»
without the existence of this strait, the vessels
which sail to Teneriff would be driven to the
soutli-east by a cause, which we must seek on the
coasts of the New World. Every motion is the
cause of another motion in the vast basin of the
seas as well as in the aerial ocean. Pursuing the
currents to their most distant sources, and re*

■

fleeting on their variable celerity, sometimes de-
creasing as between the Gulf of Florida and
the bank of Newfoundland ; at other times aug-
menting, as in the neighbourhood of the Straits of
Gibraltar, and near the Canary Islands, we can-
not doubt but the same cause which drives the
waters to make the circuitous sweep of the Gulf
of Mexico, agitates them also near the Isle of
Madeira.

It is to the south of this island, that we can
follow the current, in its direction to the SE
and SSE towards the coast of Africa» between
Cape Cantin and Cape Bojador. In these latitudes
a vessel becalmed is carried on the coast, at the
tkne it is thought at a great distance, if the reck-
oning be not corrected. Were the motion of

J

5%

the waters caused by the opening at the straits of
Gii)raltar, why, on the south of these straits,
should it not follow an opposite direction ? On
the contrary, in the 25th apd Î26th degrees of
latitude, the current flows at first directly to the
south, and then to the south-\yest. Cape Blanc^
\Yhîçh, after Cape Verd, is Û\e most salient pro-
montory, seems to have ah influence on this
direction, and it is in this parallel that the waters,
of which we have followed the course from the
coasts of Honduras to those pf Africa, mix witji
the great current of the tropics to begin their
iQur from e^st to west. We have already observed,
that, several hundred leagues to the west of the
Canary islands, the motion which is peculiar to
the equinoctial waters is felt in the temperate zone
from the 28th and î29th degrees of northern lati-
tude ; but on the meridian of the island of Ferro,
the vessels reach the south as far as the tropic of
Cancer, before ,they find themselves, by their
reckoning, to the east of their true position.

I hope to have given some value to the chart *
of the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which I have

* This chart, which I began to sketch in October, 1804.
beside the temperature of the sea, furnishes observations on
the dip of the magnetic needle, the lines without variation,
the intensity of the magnetic forces, the stripe» of floating sea
weeds, and other phenopaena which interest physical geograph v.

N B. This chart, not yet engraved, will be published in
the succeeding volumes^

fyiablished, by trâeîng in it with particular care the
direction of this retrograde curreotjv that like a
river, the bed of which Ls gradually enlarged,
traverses the vast extent of the sea. I flatter
myself that the navigators, who have studied the
charts of Jonathan Williams, of Governor Pow-
nail, of Heather, and of Strickland *, will find *
several objects in mine worthy of their attention*
lîïdependant of the observations 1 have made dur-
ing six voyages, namely, from Spain to Cumana,
from Cumana to the Havannah, from the Isle
of Cuba to Carthagena in America, . from Vera
Cruz to the Havannah, from this port to "Phila-
delphia, and from Philadelphia to the coasts of
France, 1 have collected in this map all that my
laborious and active exertions could discover in the
journals of such authors, as have been able to make
use of astronomical means to determine the effect
'of the currents. I have indicated also the lati-
tudes, in which the motion of the waters is not
constantly perceived ; for in the same manner as
the northern limit of the current of the tropics and
that of the trade winds vary according to the
seasons, the gulf-stream also changés its place and
direction. These changes become very perceptible
from the S 8th degree of latitude as far as the great
bank of Newfoundland, and are observed even be-

♦ Amer. Trans, vol.ii, p. 328 ; vol. iii, p. 82 and 194 ;
vol. V, p. 90 ; and an interesting essay on the currents, by
M. Delametherie. Journ. dc Ph>'8. nSOS, t. 67, p. 91. ' ^

i6

tween the 48th degree of lohgitiide west of Paris^
^nd the meridian of the Azores. The variable
winds of the temperate, zone, and the melting of the
ke of the northern pole, whence in the months of
July and August a great quantity of fresh water
flows towards the south, may be considered as the
principal causes, which modify in these high lati«
tudes, the force and direction of the gulf*stream«

We have just seen that between the parallels of 1 1
and 43 degrees, the waters of the Atlantic are drawn
on by the currents in a continual whirlpooK Sup-
posing that a molecule of water returns to the same
place from which it departed, w^e can estimate,
from our present knowledge of the swiftness of
currents, that this circuit of S800 leagues is not
terminated in less than two years and ten months.
A boat, which may be supposed to receive no im*
pulsion froin the winds, would require thirteen
months from the Canary islands to reach the coast
of Carracas, ten months to make the tour of the
gulf of Mexico and reach Tortoise Shoals opposite
the port of the Havannah, while forty or fifty days
might be sufficient to carry it from the straits of
Florida to the bank of Newfoundland. ' It would
be difficult to fix the rapidity of tlie retrograde
current from this bank to the coasts of Atrica :
estimating the mean velocity of the waters at seven
or eight nailes in twenty-four hours, we find ten or
p?even months for this last distance, Si^ch are the.
edects of Uiis slovi^ l^ut )regul^ motion, which agitates

57

the waters of the ocean. Those of the river of
the Amazons take nearly forty-five days to flow
from Tomependa to Grand Para.

A short time before my arrival at TenerifF, the
sea had left in the road 6f St. Croix a trunk of
a cedrela odorata covered with the bark. This
American tree vegetates exclusively under the tro-
pics, or in the neighbouring regions^. It had no
doubt been torn up on the coast of the continent,
or of that of Honduras, The nature of thé wood,
and the lichens which covered its bark, were evi-
dent proofs, that this trunk did not belong to these
submarine forests, which ancient revolutions of the
globe have deposited in lands transported from thé
polar regions.- If the cedrela, instead of having
been thrown on the strand of Teneriff, had been
carried farther south, it would probably have made
the whole tour of the Atlantic, and returned to its
native soil with the general current of the tropics.
This conjecture is supported by a fact of more an-
cient date, recorded in the general histofy of the
Canaries by the Abbé Viera. In 17/0, a small
vessel laden with com, and bound from the Island
of Lancerotte, to Santa Cruz, in TenerifF, was
driven to sea, while none of the crew were on
board. The motion of the waters from east to
west, carried it to America, ^here it went on shore
at La Guayra near Carracas *.

* Viera Hist. gen. de las Islas Canarias, t. ii, p. I67.

5S

Whilst the art of navigation u^as yet in its
infancy, the cçulf stream furnished the genius of
Christopher Columbus with certain indications of
the existence of western regions. Two corpses,
the features of which indicated a race of unknown
men, were thrown on the coasts of the Azores,
towards the end of the 15th century. Nearly at
the same period, the brother-in-law of Columbus,
Peter Correa, governor of Porto Santo, found on
the strand of this island pieces of bamboo of an
extraordinary size, brought thither by the western
currents*. These corpses and the bamboos at-
tracted the attention of the Genoese navigator,
who conjectured, that both canrie from a continent
situate towards the west ; we know at present, that
in the torrid zone thé trade winds and the cur-
rent of the tropics are in oppositionUo every
motion of the waves in the direction of the eartii's
rotation. The productions of the new world cannot
reach the old, but by the very high latitudes, and
in following tlje direction of the current of Florida.
The fruit of several trees of the Antilles are often
thrown on the coasts of tlie Isle of Ferro and
Gomera. Before the discovery of America, the
Canarians considered these fruits as coming from
the enchanted isle of St. Borondon, which accord-
ing to the reveries of the pilots, and certain legends»

♦ Munorz, Hist, del nuevo inundo, Lib. it, §.14. Fenian
Colon, vida del Alrnirante, cap. 9, Herera Dccad. 1, cap. 2.

was placed towards the west in an unknown part
of the ocean, buried, as was .supposed, in eter-
nal fogs.

My chief view in tracing a sketch of the cur-
rents of the Atlantic is to prove, that tlie motion
of the waters towards the South-east, from Cape
St. Vincent to the Canary islands, is the efFcct
of the general motion, which the surface of the
Ocean feels at its western extremity. We shall
give but a very succinct account of the arm of the
Gulf'Stream^ which in the 45th and 50th degrees
of latitude, near the bank of Bonnet- Flamand, runs
from thq south-we3t to the north-east towards the
coasts of Europe. This partial current becomes
very stiong when the wipds have continued to
blow a long time from the west : and, like that
which flows along the. isles of Ferro andGomcra,
deposits every year on the western coasts of .
Ireland and Norway the fruit of trees, which be-
long to the torrid zone of America. On the
shores of the Hebrides, we collect seeds of mi-
mosa scandens, of dolichos urens, of guilandina
bonduc, and several other plants of Jamaica, the
i^le of Cuba, and of the neighbouring continent*.
The current carries thither also barrels of French
wine, well preserved, the remains of the cargoes

* Pennant, Voyage to the Hebrides, 1772, p.. 232. Gun-
per's Acta Nidrosiensia, t, 2, p. 310. Sloane, in the Philos.
J rans. No. 222, p. 39S* Linn. Anaœn. Acad. vol. % p.
477.

60

af vessels wrecked in the West Indian seas*. To
these examples of the distant migration of the
vegetable world others no less striking may be
added. The wreck of an English vessel, the
Tilbury, burnt near Jamaica, was found on the
coasts of Scotland. On these same coasts va-
rious kinds of tortoises are sometimes found, that
inhabit the waters of the Antilles. When the
western winds are of long duration, a current is
formed in the high latitudes, which runs directly
towards the east -south- east, from the coasts of
Greenland aud Labrador, as far as the North
of Scotland. Wallace relates, that twice, in 1682
and 16S4, American savages of the race of the
Esquimaux, driven out to sea in their leathern
canoes, during a storm, and left to the guidance
of the currents, reached the Orc^des f . This
fast example is so much the more worthy of at-
tention, as it proves at the same time how, at a
period when the "art of navigation was yet in its
infancy, the motion of the waters of the ocean
would contribute to disseminate the different
races of men over the face of the globe.

The small portion of knowledge, which we hi-

♦ Necker, View of Nature in the Hebrides, in the Bibl.
Brit. vol. 4% p. 90.

t James Wallace, (of Kirkwall) Account of the Islands ai
Orkney, 1700, p. 60. Fischer, in Pallaa, Neuc Nordische
Beitaerge, B. 3, p. 320. Greenlanders have been seen in the
islands of Eda and Westram.

61

therto possess with respect to the absolute posi-
tion and breadth of the Gulf-Siream, as well as
its prolongation towards the coast of Europe
and Africa, has been accidentally observed by a
small number of enlightened men, who have
crossed the Atlantic in different directions. As
the knowledge of the currents is of the highest
importance to shorten navigations, it would be

DO less useful to the pilot than the naturalist,

*

that vessels, furnished with excellent chronome-
ters, should cruise in the gulf of Mexico, and in
the Northern Ocean between the 30th and 54th
degrees of 'latitude, in order to determine at what
distance tlie Gulf-stream is found in different
seasons, and under the influence of different

^ winds, to the south of the mouth of the Missis-
ippi, and to the east of Capes Hatteras and Cod«
The same navigators might have instructions to

* examine whether the great current of Florida con-
stantly skirts the southern bank of Newfound-
Und ; and on what parallel, between 33 and 40
degrees of west longitude, the waters which run
from east to west are nearest those which follow
an opposite direction.

The solution of this laat problem becomes so
much the more important, as the latitudes which
w€i^ have just indicated are traversed by the
greater part of the vessels, which return to Eu-
rope from the Wçst India islands, or the Cape
of Good Hope. Beside the direction and swift-

.<^'

^''**^*^i:^.

^2

licss of the currents, this expedition would serve
to discover the temperature of the sea at its
surface, the lines without variation, the dip of
the needle, and the intensity of the magnetic for-
ces. Observations of this kind become extremely
valuable, when the position of the place where
they were made has been determined by astro-
uomical means. In the seas most frequented by
the Europeans, far out of sight* of land, an able
navigator may still devote his time to important
labours. The discovery of a group of uninhabit-
ed islands is less interesting than the knowledge
of those laws, which link together a considerable
nuriiber of insulated facts.

In reflecting on the causes of the currents, we
find, that they are much more numerous than is
generally believed ; for the waters of the sea may
be put in motion by an external impulse, by a
difterence in heat and sâltness, by the periodical
melting of the polar ice, or by the inequality of
'tlie evaporation, which takes place in different la-
titudes. Sometimes several of these causes con-
cur to the same effect, and someliines they pro-
duce effects that are contrarv. ^\'inds that are
light, but which, like the trade winds, are contl-
nually acting on the whole of a zone, cause a real
•movement of transition, which Ave do not observij
in the heaviest. tempests, because these last are
circumscribed within a small space, When^ in à
great mass of water, the paiticles placed àt tlie

^3

surlace i^cqaire a difierent spedfic gravity » a su-
perficial current is formed, which takes its direc*
lion towards the point where the water is coldest,
or that which is most saturated with muriat of
$oda, sulphat of lime, and Mith muriat or suiphat
of magnesia. In the seas of the tropics we find,
that at great depths the thermometer marks 7 or
8 centesimal degrees. Such b the result of the
mimerous experiments of Commodore £llis and
of M. Peron. The temperature of the air in those
latitudes being never below 19 or 20 degrees, it
is not at the surface that the waters can have ac«
quired a degree of cold so near the point of con-
gelation, and of the maximum of the density of
water. The existence of this cold strata in the
low latitudes is an evident proof of the existence
of an inferior current, which runs from the poles
towards the equator : it also proves, that the sa»
line substances, which alter the specific gravity of
the water, arc distributed in the ocean, so as not
to annihilate the effect produced by the difiereaces
of temperature**

* in fact, if the mean saltness of the sea was 0*005 greater
under the equator than in the temperate zone» a3 several
naturalists pretend, a current at the bottom, from the equator
towards the j>ole, would be the result : for 0*005 produce a
difference of density of 0*0017, while, according to the tables
df Hallstrom, a refrigeration of l6 centesimal degrees, be«
tWeen the ^Qth and 4th of temperature, cduses only a change
of 000015 in the* specific gravity. After attentive examina*

64

Considering the velocity of the molecules, which,
on account of the rotatory motion of the globe,
vary with tlie parallels, we may be tempted to
admit that every current, in the direction from
south to north, tends at the same time toward
the east, while the w^aters, which run from the
pole towai'ds the equator, have a tendency to de-»
viate toward the west. We mav also be led to
think^ that these tendencies diminish to a certain

tion of the results of the experiments of Black, recTueedbj
Mr. Kirwan to the temperature of 16^, 1 iind oa the average
the density of the water x)f the «ea,

from 0° to 14° latitude at 1-0272
' from 10° to 23 « . 1-0282

fj-om 30° to 44* . 0-0278

from 54° to 60° 1-0271

The proportion of salt corresponding to these four zones
are, ■ according to bishop Watson, 0'0374 ; 0-0394 ; 0-0386 ;
and 0*0372. Those numbers sufficiently prove, that the experi-
ments hitherto published do not in any way justify the renew»
ed opinion, that the sea is Salter under the equator than under
the 30th and 44th ilegrees of latitude. It is not therefore a
greater quantity of saline substance held in solution, which
opposes itself to this inferior current, by which the equinoc»
tial ocean receives particles of water, which during the win*
ter of the temperate zones have sunk towards the bottom of
the sea, from the 30th to the 44th degree of southern and
northern latitude. Baume has analysed the sea-water collect*
ed by M. Pages in different latitudes, and founçi in this wa«

ter 0*005 less salt at 1° 16^ of latitude than between the 25th

■ ^ • • *i^

and 40th degrees, f Kirwan* s GcoL Easays^ p, 350. Pages
Voyage round the Worid^ vol. 2, p. 6 and 275.) *

point fhe Speed of the tropical current, in the
samei manner as they change the direction of the
polar current, which in July and August, is regu-
larly perceived during the melting of the ice, on
the parallel of the bank of Newfoundland, and
farther north.- Very old nautical observationsi
which I have had. occasion to confirm by com-
paring the longitude given by the chronometer with
that which the pilots obtained by their reckonings
are contraiy. to these theoretical ideas. In both
hemispheres, the polar currents, when they are
perceived, decline a little to the east; and we
think that the cause of this phasnomenon should
be sought in the constancy of the westeriy winds
which prevail in the high latitudes. Besides,, the
particles of water do not move with thé isame
rapidity as the particles of air ; and the currents
of the ocean, which we consider as the most ra-
pid, have only a swiftness of 8 or 9 feet a second :
it is consequently very probable, that the water, in
passing through different parallels» gn^dually ac-
quires a velocity correspondent to those parallels,
and that the rotation of the Earth does not change
the direction of the currents. .

The variable pressures, which the surface of the
sea undergoes by the changes in the weight of the
air, are another cause of motion which deserves
particular attention. It is well known, that the
barometric variations do not in general take place
at the same moment on two distant points, which

VOL. I, F

66

are on the same level; If in one of theSe poiiit^
the baronieter stands a few lines lowe^ than in the
. other, the water will rise where it finds the least
jpressure of the air, and this local intunlescence
will continue, till, from the effect of thç wind, the

*

equiltbrium of the air is restored. Wr. Vaucher
thinks that the tides in the lake of Geneva, known
by the name of the seiches, arise from the sanje
cause. Under the torrid zone, the horary varia-
tions of the barometer may produce small oscilla-
tions at the surface of the seas, the meridian of 4'* ,
which corresponds to the minimum of the pressure
of the air, being situate between the meridiar^ of
21*^ and ll** iipon which the height of . the mercury

* rs the greatest ; but these oscillations, if even th^y
were perceptible^ will be accompanied by no
cbt^nge of plac^.^

When this last movement is produced by the hae-*
quality of the specific weight of the particles^ a

•double current is formed, the upper of which has

a contrary direction to the lower. Thus iji the

. greatest part of the straits» as in the seas of the

. tropics, which receive the cold w aters of the north-»
era regions, the whole mass of water is agitated
foavery great depth. We are ignorant if it be

.the same, when the uiiPvement of progressioti, which
must not be confounded with the oscillation of the
waves, i&the effect of an external impulse. M»-

•

* Moavement de translation.

^>'.

61

de Fleurîeu, in his narrative of the voyage of the
Isis*^ cites several facts, which render it probable
that the sea is much less still at the bottom than
naturalists generally admit. Without entering
here into a discussion which we shall treat here-
after, we shall only observe, that^ if the external
impulse is constant in its action, like that of the
trade winds, the friction of the particles of water
on each other must necessarily propagate the mo-
tiop of the surface of the ocean even to ttie infe-
rior strata; and in fact this propagation in the
Gulf stream has long been admitted by navigators,
who think they discover the etFects in the great
depth of the sea wherever it is traversed by the cur-
rent of Florida, even amidst the sand-banks which
surround the northern coasts of ttjc United States.
This immense river of hot waters, after a course
of fifty days, from the S4th to the 45th decree of
latitude, or 450 leagues, does not lose» amidst the
rigors of winter in the. temperate zone, more than
3 or 4 degrees of the temperature it had under the
tropics. The greatness of the mass, and the small
conductibility of water for heat, prevent à more
speedy refrigeration. If therefore the Gulf-stream
has dug a channel at the bottom of the Atlantic
ocean, and if its waters are in motion to consider-
able depths, they must also in their inferior strata
keep up a lower temperature than that which is

t Voyage made by order of the king, in 1768 and 1769, to
try the marine time-pieces. Vol. 1^ p. 515.

F 2

6Ô

Ofbserved in the same parallel^ in a part oJF the sea
which has neither currehts nor deep shoals. These
questions' can be cleared up only by direct expe-
rltncnts, made by thermometrical soundings.

Sir Erasmus Gower remarks, tlmt, in the pas-
sa^ from I England to the Canary Islands, the
current, which draws the vessels towards the south
eaBt, begins at the 89th degree of latitude; • During
our navigation from Corunna to the coasts of
South America, the effect of this motion of the
waters was perceived farther to the north. From
the 37th to the SOth degree, the deviation was
very unequal; the daily average effect was 12
miles, that is, our sloop drove towards the east TS
miles in six days. In cuttipg the parallel of the
strait of Gibraltar, at a distance of 140 leagues,
. we had occasion to observe, that in those latitudes
the maximum of the rapidity does not correspond
with the mouth of the strait, but with a more nor-
therly pointy which lies in the prolongation of a
tine passing throu^ the strait and Cape Saint Vin-
cent This line is parallel to the direction which the
waters follow from the Azores to Cape Cantin.
We should moreover observe, (and this foct is not
iininteresting to thosa who examine the nature of
fluids) that in this part of the retrograde current,
on a breadth of ISO or 140 leagdies, the whole
mass of water has not the same rapidity, nor does
it follow precisely the same direction. Wiien the
sea is perfectly calm, there appears. at the surface

619

narrow stripes, like small rivulets/ in which the
waters run with a murmur very sensible to the
ear of an experienced pilot* The 13th of June, in
34* 36^ of northern latitude, we found ourselves
in the. midst o{ a great number of these beds
of currents. We took their direction with the coot-»
pass ; 3ome ran north-east, others east-north-east^
though the general movement of the oceat), indi-
cated by comparing the reckoning with the chrono^
metrical longitude, continued to be south-east. It
is very oommon to see h mass pf motionless wa*
ters crossed by threads of water, which run in diffe*
rent directions, and we may daily observe the pher
nomenon on the surface of lakes ; but it is much
less frequent to find partial movements, impi^essed
by local causes on small portions of waters in the
midst* of a sea-river, which *occu pies an immense
space, and which moves, though slowly, in a con-
stant direction. In thé conflict of currents, as io
the oscillation of the waves, our imagination is
stfuck by those movements which seem to pene-
trate each other, and by which the ocean is conti*
nually agitated. .

We passed Cape St. Vincent, which is of ba-*
saltic formation, at niore than eighty leagues dis-»
tance. It is not distinctly seen at a greater dis-
tance than 15 leagues, but the granitic mountain
called the Foya de Monchique, situate near the
Cape, is perceptible, as the pilots pretend, at the

70

distance of 46 leagues'*^. If their assertion be
exact, the Foya is 700 toises ( 1 363- metres) and
consequently I ]6 toises (225 metres) higher than
Vesuvius^ It seems extraordinary that the Portu-
guese government should neglect to maintain a
fUte on this point, which must be made by every
vessel coming from the Cape of Good Hope or
Gape Horn, and is an object for which they look
with the greatest eagerness. Between Ferrol and
Cadiz there is but one single light-house, that
of Cape la Rocq^e, td direct the mariners on
coasts where the approach is so dangerousl The

fires on the tower of Hercules and Cape Spichel

<

are so feeble, and so little visible at a distance, that

».

they scarcely deserve, to be dted. Besides, the
convent of the Capuchins, which rises above Cape
St. Vincent, would b^ one of the fittest places to
build a light house, with a rotatory light like that
' of Cadiz, or the mouth of the Garonne.

From Gorunna to the 36th degree of latitude
we had scarcely seen any organic being, except-
ing sea-swallow^s, and a few dolphins. We looked
in vain for sea-weeds (fucus) and moUuscas, when
on the 1 1th of June we were struck with a curious
sight, which afterwards was ' frequently re-
newed in the southern ocean. • We entered on a
zone where the whole sea was covered with a pro^-

♦ Eleo^entos de Navigacion de Don Diqnisio Macarte, p. 47.
Borda, Voy. de la Flore, vol. i, p. 39, pi. 2. Link and HoflP-
mansegg, Voy. en Portugal, vol. ii, p. 128 1 vol. iii, p. 323,

71

dîglous quantity of medusas. The vessel was
almost becalmed, bat the molliiscas were borne to-
wards the south-east, with a rapidity four times
that of the current. Their passage lasted near
three quarters of an hour. We then perceived but
a few scattered individuals, following the crowd at
a distance as if they were tired with their journey.
Do these animals come from the bottom of the sea,
which is perhaps in these latitudes some thousand
fathoms deep ? or do they make .distant voyages in
shoals ? We know that the molluscas haunt
banks; and if tl)e eight rocks, near the surface,
which Captain Vobonne asserts having seen in
1738, to the north of Porto Santo, really exist,
we may suppose that this innumerable quantity of
medusas had been thence detached ; for we were
but 28 leagues from- this refef. W.e found, beside

the medusa aurita of Baster, and the medusa

«

pelagica of Bosc with eight . tentacuha (pelagia

m

dei^ticulata, Peron)^ a third species which resembles
the medusa hysocella, and which V^andelli found at
the mouth of the Tagus. It is known by its
browhish-yellow colour, and by its tentaculae^
which arc longer than the body. Several of these
sea-nettles were four inches in diameter.; tlieir re-
flection was almost metallic : their changeable co*
lours of violet and purple, formed an agreeable
contrast with the a:5ure tint of the ocean*

In the midst of these medu§as M. Bonpl^ind
observed bundles of da^ysa notdta, a mallusca of

7«

a singular construction! which §ir Joseph Banks >
first discovered. These are small gelatinous bags,
transparent, cylindrical^ sometimes polygonal, which
are thirt.e6n lines long and two or three in diameter.
These bags are open at both ends. In one of
these openings, we observed fi hyaline bladder,
marked with a yellow spot. The cylinders arc
longitudinally placed on each other, like the cells
of a bee^hive, and form chaplets from six to eight
inches in length. I tried the galvanic electricity onr
these mollu;5cas, but it produced no contraction.
It appears th^t the genus dagj^sa, formed at the
time of Cook's first voyage, belongs to the salpas
(biphores of Bruguière) to which M. Cuvier joins
the tbalia of Brown, and the tethis vagina of
Tilesius^ The salpas journey also by groups^
joining in chaplets, as we have observed of the
dagj'sa*.

The mornins of. the 1 3th of June, in 84^ 33'
latitude, we saw large masses of this last moliusca
in its passage, the sea being perfectly calm. We
observed durinj; the night, that, of three species of
medusas which we collected, none yielded any
light b«t at the moment of a very slight shock.
This property does not belong exclusively to the
medusa noctiluca, which Forskael has described in
his Fauna JEgyptiaca, and which GmeHn has ap-^

* Account of Voyages undertaken by order of his Bntannic
Majesty, 1789, vol. iii. p.'26i. Ann. du Museum, vol. xiy.
p/360..

73

plied to the medusa pelagica of Loefling, nctwith-
standing its red tentacula, and the brownish tuber-
osities of its body. If we place a very irritable me-
dusa on'a pewter plate, and strike against the plate
witb any sort of metal, the small vibrations of the
plate are sufficient to make this animal emit light.
Sometimes in galvanising the medusa, the phos-
phorescence appears at the moment that the
chain closes, though the exciters are not in imme-
diate contact with the organs of the animal. ; The
fingers with which we touch it remain luminous
for two or three minutes, as is observed in breaking
the shell of the pholadeSp If we rub wood with
the body of a medusa, and the part rubbed ceases
shining» the phosphorescence returns if we pass a
dry hand over the wood. . When the light is ex-
tinguished a second time, it can no longer be re-
produced, though the place rubbed be still huipid
and viscous. In what manner ought we to consider
the effect of the friction, or that of the shock?
This is a question of difficult solution. Is it a
slight augmentation of temperature which favours
the phosphorescence ? or does the light return,
because the surfaXre is renewed, by putting the
animal parts proper to disengage the phosphoric
hydrogen in contact with the oxygen of tbç at-
mospheric air? I have proved by eicpeiinjents
published in 1797, that the shining of.ivood is
yextînguished in . hydrogen gas^ and in pui^
#zçjtiç gas, and that its li^ht reappears whenever

vre min with it the smallest bubble of oxygen gas.
These facts, to which we shall hereafter add
several others, lead to the discovery of the causes
of the phosphorescence, of the sea, and of that
peculhir kifluehce, which the shock of the waves
exercises on the production of light, ••

When we were between the Isle of Madeira
and the coasts of Africa, we had slight breezes and
dead calms, very favourable for the magnetic ob-
servations, which occupied me during this, passage.
We were never* wearied of admiring the beauty of
the nights; nothmg can be compared to the trans-
parency and serenity .of an African sky. We were
struck with the innumerable quantity of falling
stars, which appeared at every instant. The
farther progress we' made towards the south; the
ïnore frequent was this phâBnomenon^ especially
near the Cariaries. I have observed during my
excursions, that these igneous meteors are \n
general more common and luminous in some
regions of the globe than in others j I have never
beheld them so multiplied as in the vicinity of the
volcanoes of the province of Quito, and in the
part of the Pacific Ocean which bathes tbe volcanic
coasts of Quatimala. The fniluence, which place,
clim^, and seasons iappe^r to have on the falling
stars, distinguishes this class «of meteors from those
which give birth to stones that fall from the sky
(aerolites), and which probably exist beyond the
boundaries of our atmosphere. According to the

7*

corresponding observations of Messrs. ïîenzenberg
and Brandes * many of the falling stars seen in
in Europe were only thirty thousand toLses'high.
One was even nieasured which did ftot exceed
fourteen thousand toises, or .five leaguesi» Theso
measures, which can give no result but by approxi:-
mation, deserve well to be repeated. In n^arni
climates, especially under the tropics, the falling
l^tars leave a tail behind them, which remains
luminous la or 15 seconds: at other times they
«eem to burst into sparks, and they are generally
lower than those in the north of Europe.^ We»
perceive them only in a serene and azure sky; they
have perhaps never been seen below, a cloud.
Falling stars often follow the same direction for
several hours, which direction is then that of the
windf. In the bay of Naplé3 M.'Gay-Lussaa
and myself observed lunîinous phseaomena, very
artalogous to those which fixed my attention during
a long^abode at Mexico and Quito. These meteors
are perhaps modified by the nature, of the soil and
the air, like certain* effects of the looming:}: and
of the terrestial refraction peculiar to the coast^ of
Calabria and Sicily.

* Gilbert. Annalea de Physik, th. xli, p. 56^,
f Such is the result of. numerous observations by Mr*
Arago, who, at the period of the prolongation of the meridian
in Spain, was enabled to observe the direction.of the meteors,
during whole bights, on the Tosal d'EQcanade, a mountaiA in
the kingdom of y alentia» * •
t Mirage»

76

During our navigation we saw neither the
Desert islands nor Madeira ; I should have wished
to have had the means of yecifying the longkude of
those islands, and of taking the angles of altitude
of the volcanic mountains, which rise to the north
of Funchal. M. Borda* i^ays, that these moun-
tains até seen at 20 leagues distance, which would^
give a height of only 414 toises (806 metres) ; bu|;
we know by récent measures,^th^t the most elevated
point t of Madeira is 5l6S English feet, or 807
toises. The small Desert islands «md the Salvage,
on which are gathered the archil and the mesembry-
anthemum crystallinum, are only 200 toises in per-
pendicular height. I think it useful to fix the
attention of navigators • on these measures;,
because, according to a method of which this
narrative offers- sevefal examples, and which
Borda, Lord Mulgrave,' M. de Rossél, and Dor
Cosmo Churruca have successfully employed in
their expeditions, we may, by angles of heighjt
taken with good reflecting instruments, discover
Kvith sufficient exactness the distance, at which a
vessel finds itself from a cape, or an island with
mountains. *

♦ Voy. de la Flore, vol. i, p; ^6. The Salvage is visible at
eight leagues ; the little Desert islands are seen at X^ leagues
distance. Borda, vol. i, p« 67 et 70.

f Smith's Tour of the Continent, vol. i, p. 200. Irish
Tmns. vol. viii, p. 124. According to Heberden, the Pea|c
Ruivo of Madeira is 695 toises above the plane which suc^
rounds its basis. Cook's first Voyage, vol. i; p. 272.

[

77

When we were forty leagues east of the island of
Madeira, a common swallow came and perched on
the topsaiV-yard. It was so fatigued, that it suffered
itself to be easily taken. ' What could engage a
bird, in that season, and in calm weather, to fly so
far ? In the expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, a com-
mon swallow was seen at 60 leagues distance from
Cape Blauc; but this was towards the end of
October, and Mi Labillardière thought it had
newly arrived from Europe. We crossed these
latitudes in June, at a period when the seas had
not for a long, time been agitated by tempests. I
tlwell on this last circumstance, because small birdii,
and even butterflies, are sometimes forced out to
sea by the impetuosity of the winds, as we ob-
served in the southern ocean, when we were on
the western coasts of Mexico.'

The Pizàrro .had orders to touch at the isle
of Lancerote (Lanzarote^) one of the seven great
Canary islands, to inquire whether the English
blockaded the road of St. Croix of Teneriff. We
had been uncertain, since the 15th of June, what
course to follow. Till then the pilots, to whom
the use of marine watches was jiot very fami-
liar^ had shown little confidence in the londtude
which I obtained regularly twice a day, by the
difference of time, in taking horary angles morning
. and evening. They hesitated at . steering to the
south-east, in apprehension of running on Cape
Nun, or at least of leaving the island of Larice-^

rote to the west. At length on the l6tb of
June, at nine in the morning, when we were *al-
ready in 29^ 2fl^ of latitude, the Captain changed
his course, and sailed toward the east. The ex-
actness of Lewis Berthoud^s timekeeper, was soon
recognized : at two in the aftertioon we had siglit
of land, which appeared like a small cloud at
the edge of tl^ horizon. At five, the sun being
lower, the isle of Lançerote presented itself so
distinctly, that I was able to take the angle of
altitude of a conic mountain, which towered ma-
jesticaily over the other summits, and which we
thought was the great volcano w hich had committed
so many ravages in the night of the first of Sep»
tember, 1730.

The current drew us toward the coast more
rapidly than we wished. As we advanced^ we
discovered at first the island of Fortaventure
(Fort even turn J famous for the great number of
camels * which it feeds ; and a short time after
Vie ' saw the small island of Loboâ in the chan-

* These camels, which serve for labor, and sometimes

for food ivhen salted, did not exist IfU the Bethencourtt

«

made the. conquest of the Canaries, in the sixteenth ces.
tury, asses ivere so abundant in the isle of Fortaventora,

•

that they became wild and were honted. Several thousands
were killed to save the harvest. The horses of Fortaven-
tdra are of singular beauty, and of the Barbary race. No*
Ucias delà hi storia general de las isla^ Cauarias, por Don
Jose de Viera, t. 2, p. 436. i

79

ml which separates. Fortaventura from Lancerote.
We spent part of the night on the deck. The
moon illnmined the volcanic summits of Lance-

• • •

rote, the flanks of which, covered with ashes, re-
flected a silver light. Antares threw out its re-
splendcAt rays near the lunar disk, which was but
a few degrees above the horizon. . The night
was beautifully serene and cool. Though we
w^ere but a little distance from the west of Africa^
and on the limit of the torrid zotie, the centi-
grade thermometer rose no higher than 18?^'
The phosphorescence of the ocean seemed to
augment the mass of light diffused through . the
air. I was able te read for the first time
the nonius of a sextant, by Trougbton, of two
inches, the division of which was very minute»
without using a taper for the limb. Several of
our fellow-travellers were Canarians, who, like all
other inhabitants of islands, vaunted with enthu-
siasm the beauty of their country. After mid-
night, great black clouds riising behind the vol-
cano shrouded at intervals the moon and the
beautiful constellation of the Scorpion. We be-
held lights carried to and fro on shore, which
were probably those of fishelrmen preparing for
their labors. We had been employed, during our
passage, in reading the ancient voyages of tlie Spa-
niards, and these moving lights recalled to Our
fancy those which Pedro Gutierrez, page ot
Queen Isabella, saw in the isle of Guanahani,

80

oh that "memorable night of the discovery of the
New World.

On the 17th, in the mforning, the horizon was
foggy, andxthe sky slightly covered with vapours.
The outline^ of the mountain of Lancerote ap-
peared stronger : the humidity,* increasing the
transparency of the air, seemed at the same time
to have .brought the objects nearer our view.
This phasnomenon is well known to those, who
have made hygrometrical . observations in places
whence the chain of the high Alps or the An-
des is seen. We passed through the channel
which divides the isle of Alegranza from Mon-
tana Clara, taking soundings the whole way.
We examined the Archipelago of small islands si-
tuate to the north of Lancerote, which are so
ill laid down in the chaft of M. Fleurieu, though
it is otherwise very exact, and in. that which ap-
peared in the voyage of the Flora frigate. The
chart of the Atlantic Ocean, published in 1786
by order of M. de Castries, is equally erroneous
in this point. The currents being extremely ra-
pid in these latitudes, it is . important for the safe-
ty of navigators to observe here, that the position
.of the five small islands, Alegranza, Clara, Gra-
cios^, Roca del Este, and Infierno, are no where
laid down with exactness, but in the chart of
• the Canaries by Mr. de Borda, and in the Atlas of
Tofino, founded for this part on the observations

81

•f I>bn Jôsc Varela^ which axe néstrly confp'rtn-
able to those of the Bôùssôle frigate; . . î

In the midst x>f thiâ Archipelago^ wUch is seh
dom traversed by vessel? bound for TenerifFe^ we
were singularly struck with the configuration o£
the coasts: Wc thought ourseltes trani^ported to
the Euganean nioutitâins iii the Viceotin^ or the
banks of the Rhine near Bonn*"; The form oC
organized beingâ varies according to the climate,
and it is that extreme variety^ which renders the
atudy of the geography of plants and animals . 3o
attractive ; but the rocks^ mbre anbient peiiiaps
than the Causes which bdve produced the ditfcir»
ence of the bkmateà on the globe, are the s^me
in both hemispheres t- The pbrphyri^ -cont^nr
ing vitreous fddspath and hornblende ^i the pho*
nolite§, the greenstones the amygdaloids, and
the hasalt have fornis alnlost as invarilible as aim-
pk crystallized substances^ In the Canary isands»
and in the n^ount^dns. of Auvergne^ in the Mit-
télgebirge in 'Bohemia, in Mexico^ and on. the
banks of the Ganges, the jbrmation of trapp is
indicated by a symitietrieal disposition of the
moufttaios, by truncated cones, sometimes insu«
kted^ sometimes grouped ||, and by elevated plains^
. ■ •* • ■

^ Sieb^igeBirge, described by Mr. Nose.

t, Momun. Amèiu p. 122.

X Amphibole of iiauy.

§ Porphyrschiefer of Wertrer,

II Motttigemelli, Zwillingsberge.

VOL. If O

es

both extremities of wWch afe crowned by a
conical rising;

The whole western ppfrt of LaHYzerofa, of v^-hicb
we had a near* view, bears the appearance of a
country recently overtumecj by volcanic eruptions.
Every thing is blaek, parched, and stripped of
vegetable moulds We disthigcnshed, wifth ouf
glasses, stratified basalt ki thra imd steeply sloping
strata: Several h3)s resembled Monte Novo,>
liear Naples, or those' hiHockd of scoria and ashes^
which the opeming earth thvew up in a single
night at the foot of the volcano of JoruUo, in
Mexico. In hct^ the Abbé Viera* vàststs^ that
in 1 7dO ftKH^e thaQ half the idiaiid changed it»
af^iearance. Thie^eai wolcmo}m}àchmeh}à,ye}u9t
mentioned, Md whkfa tiie ihhpibital>ts caH the
volcano of Temanfapaf spread desolation over
a moat fertile and highly euhÎFvated r^ion ; nine
vHlages wefe entirely deatroyirà fay the^ lavaSr^
This catas^ophe had been' {receded by a tre*
mendous earthquake, and for sever&l years shock»
equidly violent were feltr This last phaenoiaenon
h so* much the nK)re singular, as it seldrav faap>ii
pens at the end of an eruption^ when the éiastie
vapour» have foutid vent by the crater,, after the
ejectbn of thé melted matter. The summit of
the [great volcano is a founded hilly but not
entirely conic. From* the angtes of altitude which

* Viera, t. 2y p. 404.

83

I took at différent distances, its absolute eleva*
tioQ did not appear to exc^d three hundred toises.
The deighbouridg hills, and those of Al^ranza,
«nd Isli^ Clara were scarcely above one hundred
or one hundred arid twenty toises» We may be
i^rpHsed at not finding these summits at a
greater elevation^ which seen at sea wear so ma-
jestic a form ; but nothing is more uncertrâi than,
our judgment on the greatness of angles, which
are suBtended by objects .close to the horizon^
From illusions of this sort it arose, that before
the ai^asures * of Messrs. de Churruca and.Gal-
leano, at Cape F^lar^ navigators considered the
mountains of the Sitrait^ of Magdlan, and thdse
of Terra del Fuego^ as being extremely ele^
vated»

Tlie island of Lanzerota bore*- formerly the
name oi Titen^otra. On the arrival of the
Spaniards, its inhabUants were distinguished from
the other Cànarians by marks of greater civili-
zation. Their houses^ were built with free stone,
while the Guanches of Teneriffe, like real trog-
lodytes, dwelt in caverns. At Lanzerota, a very
singular custom f prevailed at that time, of which

* Churruca, Apendicç a ^a Relacion del Viaje al Mage)«.
lanes, 1793, p. 7C* .

t Vil!ra, t. i, p. 150, 171, 191. Du Halde, Descrip, of
China, t. ly, p. 461. In Thibet, polyandry is nevertheless
much less common than is thought, and is blamed by the
clergy. Hackman in Pallas^ Neue Nordiscbe Beitraege, B. 3,
p. 282.

g2

84

we find tio example except among the peoplef of
Thibet. A woman had éev^ral husbands, \^ho
cttterflately enjoyed the prerogatives dae to the
head of a family. A husband was cîonsitferéd
as such only during a lunar revolution j and whilst
his rights were exercised by others, he rentoined
classed among the householcl domestics. It must
be regretted, that the missionaries who accompa-
nied Jean ite Béthencourf, and who sketched the
history of the conquest of the Canaries, have
given usr no athpler details on the manticrs of a
people' who had sdch singular ctisfoms. Iw the
fifteenth century,' the island of Lari^erota contain-
ed two sinall distinct states, divided by a wallj
a kind of momiments which . o«tli ve nationctl en-*
mities, and whfeh we find in Scotland, in China^
and Peru.

\Ve were forced by the winds' to f>aSs betweetï?
the isfandis of Alégranza and Montana Clara j
arid as rtonB on bparA the^sloop'had sailed through
tliis passage, we were obliged to be continually
«ounding. We Ifolund from twenty fiv^- ta thirty
two fathom. Thé lead bf ought up an organic
substance of so singular a constnîictîbn, that we
were for a lon^ time doubtful whether it was a
zoophite of a kmd of seaweed. The drawing I
made on the spot is. engraved in the second vo-
lume of our Equinoctial Plants *." The stem, of

* Equinox. Plants, t. ii, p. 8, pi . 60.

65

ft brpwnish color and.thcee inches long, has cir-
cular learves tlmt have lobes, and are. indented
ât the edge. The colour of these leaves is a
tender green, and they are membranous and
strealjied Ulce thpse of the adiantums and the ginkgo
jbiUba* Theif* surface is covered ^ with stiff and
Hhitish hairs ; before their, op^ening they are con*
paye an^ envellpped on^ in the other. We ob-
servie no ipark of sppntanepus motion, qo sign
of irritability, not even on the application of g^i*
vanic electricity. Th|e sfeni 13 no); >voody« \k\\%
^most of a, horny sph^tai^ce, like tl)e stem of th€
gorgons. A^Qte .and phosphoruii^ having been
gbundaptly fpu^d in s^everal cryptogamous plants,
fin appe^ tQ cl^emistry wQqld be useless, tp de-
termine wl^eth^r thiji prganl^d substance bdqpg*
ied to the animal pr vegetable kingdom. 1(16 great
analogy to several sea plants, with adiaqtmnJ^avçs»
specially with the gcpus -caulgrpft of M^ Lamqu-
xeux, > pf ifhich the fucufii^pt'oUfer of fForskal is
one of thç numerous species, .engaged us to
Tank it provisionally ampng the sea-wracks^
find give it the name of fucus vitifolius. Thç
bristles which cover this plant are fpund ia seve-
ral other fuci"^. The leaf, examined with a mi-
wscôpe at the instant wc direw if up from the
water, did not prescrit, it is, true, thosç conglobate
g^aiids. Of thos.e opake pobts, which the parts-

^ fucus IycaiK)dio'(dés, and f. hirs^^iUflbi.

86

of iru^fication in the genera of ulva and f!icu^
contain j bnt how often do we ifiûd sea- weeds irt
such a state, that we cannot yet distinguish ady
trace pf seeds in their transparent parencbynïa. '
I • should not have entered into these details^
-which • belong to descriptive natural history, had
not the vine-leaved fucus presented "a physiolc^cal
phenpqoenon of the greatest interest. Fixed to a
piece of niadrepora, this seawe^sd vegetati&s at
the bottpm of the ocean, at ttîe depth of 192 fee^
notwithstanding whiph, its kayes were -as grisen as
jAiose of our grasses. According to the experi-
ments pf Bouguer^, light is weakened afters pas^
aage of 180 feet in the ratio pf 1 to 1477*8. The
sea-weed of UAIegrat^za consequently presents a
|iew exiimple of plants, which vegetate in *a great
pbspurity without "beipg whitened. Several ge^ms^
ftill envelpped in the hulbs of the lily tribes, the
embryp pf tbf^ m^taceie, of thp rhamnddes, of the
pbtacea, itie viscum, and the cit^rus, the branches
of some çubterranequs planta; }n short, vegetables
^nspprte4 iqtP mioesi inhere the ambient air
contains bydrpgep^ qr a gn^t quantity ùS B^oît,

f Traité il'opt^ue,> 250, f64, 340. Th^ fucua vitiibliiis,
11^ tbe ^tb pf 3S falhoifû^ gaq have received ^ light only 20^
time^ stronger |h^ that of the nsoop, and consequently equal
to half the light of a candle at a fopt's distance. But after
my direct f xperimepts, tBe lepidiupi sativum scarcely takef
a tint of green by the yivid light of two l^ps pf Arg^pd*
See also Laml^rti Fhotom^tria^ p. 933*

B7

iiecjpme green without light. Fro m these facts»
we are inclined to admit, that it is not only under
the influence of the solar rays that this .carburet o£
hydrogen is formed in the organs of (^ants, thjs
presence of which makes the ^parenchyma ap«
pear of a lighter or dar.ker green, according as the
carbon predominates in the mixture**

Mn Turner, who has so well made known the
fiimily oC the seaweeds, and many other C( lebrated
botanists, think that the greater part of the fuel
which we gather on the surf^ice of the ocean, and
which from the 9Sd to the 3oth degree of iatilude»
and 32d of longitude» a,ppear to the mariner
like a vast inundated meadow, grow primitively
at the botftom of the ocean, and float only in their
ripened state» when they are torn off by the motion
of the waves. If this opinion be founded» we must
agree, that the iamily of seaweeds offers forqiidabla
difficulties to naturalists» who persist in thinking
thiU: absence of light must always produce a white-:
ness ; for how can we. admit» that so many ape^^
cies of ulvace», and dictyoteas, with, stems and
green leaves» which float oh the ocean, have vege*
tated on rocks almost at the surface of the water ?

* These ideas are in part explained ia my memoir <m tbe
phenomwioaof etwlatitm^ (Journal de PÂjf4hut'f U 40, p. 154)
^nû in my A pkmrismê on the chacal physiology of Fegetableu
{Flora Preibergensit^ p. 179). See also Trans, of tàf Irish
Academy fVoU Si p« 280«

88

From somp irotions . which the captain of the
Pizarro had collected in an old Portuguese itine*
rary, he thought himself opposite a small fort, si-
tuate at the north of Teguisa, the capital of the
island of I^n?erota. * Mistaking a rock of basalt
for a castle, he saluted it by hoisting the Spanish
flag, and sent a boat with an officer to inquire of
the commander, if the English vessels were cruiz-
ing in the roads. We were not a little susprised
to learn, 'that the land, which we had considered as
a prolongation of the coasts of Lanzerota, was the
^mall island of Oraciosa, and that for several
leagues there was not an inhabited place.

We togk advantage of the boat to survey the
land, which enclosed a large bay. No* language
can express the emotion, wBich à naturalist feels^
when he touches for the first time a land that is
^ot European, The attention is fixed on so great
a number of objects, that he can scarcely define the
împresslon he receives, At every step he thinks
hé discovers some new production; and in this
tlimultuous state of mind he does not recollect
those which ^re most common in our botanical
gardens, and collections of natural history. At
two hundred yards from the coast, we saw a man
fishing ivith a line. We steered towarçls him, but
he took' fright, and hid himself behind a rock.
The sailors broughi him back with difficulty. The
sight of the sloop, the fire of the cannon in so
solitary a place, though sometimes visited by Bar^,

•9

bfllfy corsairr, and the landing of the crew, ha4
frfghtened this poor man. He informed us, that
the small island of Graciosa, on which we had
just landed, was separated from Lanzerota by a
narrow channel called £1 Rio. He ojffered to
conduct us to tlie port of I^s .Colorados, to get
kiformation respecting the blockade of Teneriffct
but as he assured us at the same time, that he had
not seen any vessel for some weeks on the %Qa%
the captain resolved to pursue his course to Sauta
Cruz.

/ The small part of the island of Graciosa, which
we traversed, resembles those promontoriesx)f lava,
which we see near Naples, between Portici and
Torre del Greco. The rocks. are naked, witl^no
marks of vegetation, aAd scarcely any of vegeta«
ble soil. A few crustaceous lichen variolari»,
leprariœ, and urceolarise ^ were scattered about
upon the batoltes. The lavas which are not oo<*
vered with volcanic ashes remain for atjes without
any appearance of vegetation. On the African soil
jsxcessive heat, and lengthened drought, retard the
growth of cryptogamous plaats.
-■ • « .- i ■ ■ • . • .' .

* We foaiid the lecidea astrovirens, Hrceobria ocislleta, ^»
^iainarta, (to wbich M. Acbaruir aaai^ilates the lichen kœiii«
sri of m^ Flora of Friberg) parmelia parietina, p. tenellap
vlicbèp bispidus Willd.) p. atra, lecidiu fusco-atra, and man/
other species, which were hitherto thobgbt to belong excla*
çively to the north of Europe. (Açb&fi^ Methodus I4chenuqi|^

90

The basalts of Graciosa are not in columns, l]|Ut
divided into strata 10 or 15 inches tjiick. These
strata are inclined under an angle of 80 degrees to
the north-west The compact basalt alternates
with the strata of porous basalt and marl. The
rock does tiot contain hornblende» but great, cry s«
tals of foliated olrvind,. which have a tvipW clivage* .
This substance is decomposed with great dif&culty«
M* Haiiy considers it as a variety of the pyroxene.
The pofous basalt, which passes into vmndei^
steiny has oblong cavities from two to eight
lines diameter, lined* with chalcedony, enclosing
iragments of compact basalt* I did not remaria
that these .os^vities had the same direction, or that
tii^ porous rock lay on compact strata, as happeuf
in the currents of lava of iËtna and Vesuvius^
The marlf) which alternates more than. ^ hundred.
6iiie& with the basalts, is yellowish, frii^ble by de«
coinpo9iti(»i,~ very coherent in tl^e yoside, and ofteq
4)vided into irregplar prisms, analogous to th^
tiasaltip prismsi The sun discolors their surface^
IIS it whitens several ^cbists^ by reviving a hydrocar-^
buretted principle, wlûçh appears to be combined
with the earth. The marl of Graciosa contains a
great quantity C^ chalk, »nd strongly e0èrvesces
witii nitric ^cidj even on points where it is found
in contact with the basalt This fact is so much
^ore remarkably, ^ ti^is substaoca does not fill

t BIfDttriger olivsii*

91

the fissures of the rock, but its strata are parallel
to those of the basalt; whence we may con-
clude, that both fossils are of the same formation»
and have'a common origin.- The pttenotnçnon of
a basaldc rock containing masses of indurated marl
split into àmall colunui3, is also found in the
Mittelgfebirge, in Bohemia» Visiting those coutitriei
in 179a, in company wiA Mr. Freiesleben*, we
even^ recognized in the marl o( the Stiefelberg
the imprint of a plant nearljr resembling the ceras«
tium, or the alsine. Are these strata» contained
in the tràppean mountains^ owing t<f muddy irrupt
tions? or must we • consider them as sediments of
water, which alternate with volcanic dépositions f
This last hypothesis seems so much the less admisk
sibfe, since» from the researches of Sir James Hall<À
the influence of pressure ih fusions, the existence dî
carbonic acid in substances contained in basalt
offers nothing'surprising. Several lavas of Vfe$u^
vius presenf similar phienomena. In L^ombardy»
between Vicenza and AbaUo, where the calcareous
stone of the Juraf contains greii^t masses of basalt,
I have seen this latter enter into' eflèrvéscéiidQ
with the acids whenever it touches the palcareoiis
rock. •

We had not time to reach the ^omnàit of a hilt»
that was very remarkable in having its Base formed
of banks of cl^y tmcfer strata of basàlit» iil(é"à

* Bergmsettmtcl^es Jfournal, )79^, p. 215.
f Jura-kalkfitem»

4

58

fnountain in Saxony ^, which is become celebrated
on account of the disputes of volcanean and neptu^
pean geologists. These basaltes were covered with a
piam.noffîfornfi «substance, which I vainly sought on
the Peak of Tieneriffe, and. which is known by the
name of volcanic glass, g|^ss of Mulleror Hyalite:
it is the ti^ansition from the opal to the calcedony.
We struck oiF with difftcuUy some fine specimens,
leaving masses that were eight or ten inches sq^uare
untouched» I nevei^ saw in Europe such fine
hyalites as I found in the island of Graciosa, and
on the rock T)f porphyry called efPenol de lof
\Bannos^ on the bank of the lake of Mexico.
^ Two kinds of sapd CQver the shore j, one is
black and basaltic, thç other white and qqart^osç.
In ^ place çxpqsed to the ray^ of the sun, the first
•raised the tl^ermqnpeter to* 51*2® (41*. R.) and thç
3çcqnd ^o 40* {32* R.) The température of tjhe
f^r in the sl^ade was 27*7^ or 7*^^- high^er than that
of the a^^- oyer the sea» The qu^rt^oi^ saftd con-
tains fragixiepts of feldspath. It is thrown back
by U^e ^fater, $^4 ^onn^ 'm somç «.ort, çn the surr
fyce * of tljye ropl^s, six\all is^i^ where the seaweedi
-vegetates. Fragments of granite have been ob-
served at Teneriffe ; the island of Gopora, Iroqi
the dejtaiis furnished me by Mr, liirqusspimet,

• «* C',.t. •'

cqntains a nucleus pf micaceous scbistf ; thp
Qi^afte disseminated ^n the sand, which we fou^i^

* Scbeibenbergen tiuegeL
•^ Climmerschiefer,^.

cm aie dhclce of Graciosa, is a different rabstancsé
irom the lavas^ and the trappean porphyries which
are so intimately connected with the volcanic pro*
ductions. From these facts it seems evident, / that
in the Canary islands/ as welt as on the Andes of
QuitOy in Auvergne, Greece, and the greater ptrt
of the.globe, the subterraneous fires htfve pier(5ed
through the rocks of primitive formation. In treat»
ing hereafter of the great number of warm springs^
which we hai^e seen issuing from granite, gneiss^
and micaceous schist, we shall have occasion to re»
turn te this subject, whicli is one of the most ii»-
portant of the physical history of the globe. .

We reembarked at sunset, and hoisted- sail^
but the breeze was too feeble to permit us to coit*
linue our course td Tetieriffe. The sea was calm ;
a reddish vapor covered the horizon» and seemedt
to magnify every object. In this solitude, amidst
so many uninhabited islets, we enjoyed fof a long
time the view . of an austere and savage nature; The

4

black mcKintains of GraCiosa appeared* like per-

pendictrlar walls of five or six hundred feet. Their

shadows, thrown over the surface of the ocean,

>nve a- gkiomy aspect ito the scenery. Rocks of

basalt, emerged froin th^ bosom of the water,

%<*ore the resemblance of the ruins of some vast

• ■ -,

edifice; tbeii' existence carried our .thoughts back
to the remote period , when submarine volcanoes
gave birth to new islands, or rent the continents
asunder. Every thing which surrounded ug seemed

tto indicate destruction and ^erilîty ; but the back
ground of the picture, the coasts of Lanzerota, pre*
seated a more smiling aspect. In a narrow pass,
between two hiUs» crowned with scattered tufts of
frees, the marks of cultivation were visible. The
]a.3t rays of tlic sun gilded the corn ready for the
sickle. The desert even is animated wherever we
can discover â tracp of the industry of man.
, We endeavoured to get out of this bay by the
pass which separates Alegranza from Montana
Clarai and through which we had easily entered to
land at the northern point of Graciosa. The wind
having fallen, the currents drove us very near a
^ock, on which the sea broke with violence, 'and
which is noted in the old charts under the name of
Hell,, or Infierno, As we examined this rock at
ti]ie distance of two cables length, we found that it
was a mass of lava three or four fathoms high« full
of cavities, and covered with scorice resembling
coke. We may presunie that this rock *, which
modern ' charts call the. West Rock (Roca del
Oeste)> was raised by volcanic fire ; and it might

* Bpnb, Voyage .de la Flore, vol. i, p. 386,. Bory St^
Vincent, £ssai ^sur les Iles Fortunées, p. f 0. I must here
observe, that this rock is already noted on the celebrated
Venetian chart of Andrea Bianco, hot that the name of
//i/emo' is given, as in the most ancient chart of Picigano,
made in 1367, to Téneriff, wfthout doubt because the. Guan-
ches considered the peak as the entrance into Hell. In the
tafue latitudes an island made its jreappearance in 1811.

95

heretofore have beea much higher ; for the new
UlcCndoA the Azores, which rose from the sea, at
successive periods, ia 1638 and I719f had
reached âS4 feet^ wheji it totldly disappeared in
17$â, to^the depth of 480 feet This opinion on
the origin of the basaltic mass of the Infiemo b
confirmed by a phenomenon, which was observed
towards the middle of the last century in these
same latitudes. .At the time pf the irruption of
tlie volcano of Temanfaya, two pyramidal hSls of
lithoid lava ro3e from llie l>ott(Hn ai the ooeM^
find united themselves by degrees ta the island of
Lancerote»

. As we were, prevented by the fall of the wind,
Vkà by the currents, from repassmg the channel of
Alegranza,we resolved on tacking during the ni^
betweep the isle Clara and the Wc^^t Boek.
This resolution had nisarly proved fatal. A calm
is very dangerous near this last rock, towards
w.hich the current drives with considerable force. We
began to feel (be effects çf this current at midnight
The proximity of the stony masses, which rise per«
pendicularly above the water, deprived us of the
little wind which blew : the sloop 4io longer obeyed
the helm, and we dreaded striking every instant
It is difficult to conceive how a mass of basalt, in-
sulated in the vast expanse of the ocean, can

* III 17^0, this island was, visible at seven or eight ieagues
distance. Menu de l'Académie, 1729, p* 12. Fleurieu, Voyage
de l'I?is, vol. i, p. 565*

99

i

l^use so x?onsiderab1e *a motion in tbe \ratera;
These phenomena^ well worthy the attention of
naturalists, arc neyfertheless well knowft to mari-*
ners; tiiey are extremely .tO be dreaded in thé
PiicificOoean,, particularly in the small Archipelago
of tlie islands c^ Galltpagos; The difference of
temperature which «exists between the iluid and the
Aiass of rock» cannot exptain the direction which
these currents -take; and how can we admit, that the
water is engulfed at the base of these* rocks, which
^Iken are not of vofcanxc origin ; and that this
Oootioual engulfing deteimines the particles of
water to fill up the vacuum that takes place* ?

The wind having fresheded a little towards the
morning on the 18th, we succeeded in parsing tiie
channel. We^ drew^vèry near the Infierno the
second time, «md- rànai*k*d the large crevices,
through which thé gazeôus fluids- probably issued,
when this basaltic mass was raised. We lost sight*
of the small islands? of Alegranza, Montana Clam,
and Gracioza, which appear to have never beert
inhabited l^y the Guanches. They are now visited
oftly to gather archil; this production Is however
tess «ought after,, sitiee so vhmiy other •iichena

"* We are surprised tojread irr a bigbly usefirfwork, whicR
is in the hand of every seaman^ in the ninth edition ofHamiU
ton ^ioore's Practical Navigator, p. 200, that it iîJ by the
eiïectVthe attraction of the masses, or of universal gravita,
tion, that a vessel leaves the coasts tvith difficulty, and Jthat the
boat of a frigate is attracted by the frigate itself.

07

bf the north of Europe yield other nSateriak pfO^él
for dyeidg: Mont^tn^ Clara is noted for it» heûû^
tiful Canary bMs. The note of these birdg* Vô-s
ries with their flocks, like that of our chaffinches/
which often* diiSfers in two nei^bouring districts;
Montana Clara yields pasture for 'goats,- whicH
proves that thé interior of this islet is less arid thail
its toasts. The name of Alegranza is synoniniDuà
with the Joyous *j which was given it by the first
conqueforB of the Canary Islands, twd Nbfrtiaii
batdns, Jean de Béthericourt, and Gadifer de
Salle. This was the first point on which they
landed. After remaining several days at Graciosa^
a small part of which we etaminé(f, they cdnceired
the pi^pject of taking possèssioh of the neighbouring
isle of -Lanzerotâ, where they were #elcôtaed by
Giiadarfia, sovereign of the Guanches, with the
same hospitality that Cortef foulid in the palace of
Montezuma. The éhépherd king, who had nO
other riches than his goats, bétame the victim of
coward treachery^ like the sultan erf Mexico:

We sailed'along the coasts of Lanzerot^i> of the
island of Losbos; arid of FortavJentura; *The second
of these islands seem^ to have anciehtly formed
part of |the two others. This geologicîîl hypothe-^
sis was started in the seventeenth' century . by à
franciscan, Juan Galindd. This writer even sup*
posed that, the king, Juba» had named six Çanaïf^

VOL. I^ . H

9$

Inlands only, « because, in his time, three among
thetn- wei^ ^contiguous. Without admitting the
small prolmbiHly of this hypothesis, learned geo-
graphers have seemed to reco^ize, in the Archipe-
UgP' of the * Canaries, the two isles Junohi®,
I^ivaria, Ombrios, Cahari% and the* Çaprarîa of
the andents*- ,

The4iaziness of the iiorizon prevented us, during
tee whole of our passage from . Lanzerota -to
Teneriffé from discovering the summit of the peak
qjf Tey4e. If the Jheight of this volcaniQ is iQOô
toisfs, as the last trigonometrical measure of
Borda indicates, its summit ought to be visible at
a distance of' 43 leagues, supposing the eye on a
level with the ocean,, and a rdFraction equal to
079, of distance. Jt has .been doabfedt whether
the peak has ever been seen from the channel,
which separates Laiizerotà from I]ortaventura, and
wïiîch is distant from the volcano, according to the
ciiart of Vàrela, 2 29^, or nearly 50 leagues.
This phenofnenoa appears* nevfertheless to have^
b^en verified by several officers of ' the Spanish
royal marine. I bad in my hand, on, board the
jPizarrjo, a journal^ in which it .was noted, -that the
peak- of Teneriffa had been seen at 1 35 miles dis*

» »

* GosseWiS^ Rècb. sur la Géog. des Aociêns, t. i, p. 146,
J56, 163-

*"^+* Voyag€ àe la Flore, t; i; p/3î50. My chronometer gave
me, on the coast north-west of Lanzerota, 15* 5^^ IC/^ west
of the meridian of Paris* .

9^

■ »

tance,* near the Sypufthern cape of Lanzerota, called
Pichiguerji. Its summit was discovered under an
angle considerable enough te lead the observer,
Don «Manuel Baruti, ix> think that the volcano
naight have been visible at nine miles' farther. It
was in September, towards .die evening, and in
very damp weather. Reckoning (ifteen feet for the
elevation of the eye, I find, that to r^der an ac-
count of this pheenomenon^ we must suppose 'a re*
fraction equal to 0* 158* of the afcb^ which is not
very extraordinary for the temperate zone. Ac-
cording 'to the observations of General Roy, the
refractions vary in England from one twentieth to
one third ; and if- it be true, that they reach these
extreme limits oq the coast of Africa, which I
much dbubtj the peak, in certain 'circumstances,
may be seen on the deck of a vessel as for off as
6 J leagues.

•Navigators wh^ have touch frequented • these
latitudes, • and who can reflect on the physical
causes of the phaenomena, are surprised that the
peaks of Teyde and' of the Azores * arc sometimes

* The height of this p«ftk, according to Fleurieu, is 1100
toifees; to Farrer, iSS8 toise»; and to TQfino,'1260 toifef:
but these measures are only approximative estimations. The
captain of the Pizairo» Don Manuel C^igal> pr4)ved to me^-by
his journal, that he observed the peak of the Azores at the .
distance of 37 leagues^ when he waa sure of his latitude
within two minutes. The volcano was seen at S. 4® £., so that
the error in longitude must have aq almost imper€e|àtible inp

H 2

wo

visible at a very grgat distance, though at other
. dmes they are not seen when the distants is much
less, and the sky apj>eart serene and the horizon
free from fogs. These circumstances' are so much
the mdre worthy the aittentioD. of naturalists, as
several vessels returning to Europe wait im-
patiently for a sigfot of these mountains, to recfify
their longifiide, dnd think tliemsel'O^es much farther
off than they really are, when m fiiio weatlier these
peadcs are hot • ]ï>erceptibiè àt distances whève the
angles subtended ought to be very considerable.
The constitution of the atmosphere has a great in-
fluence on the visibility of distant objects. It rnay
be admitted in general, that the peak of TenerifFe iô
seldom seen at a great distance, in the warm and
dry months of July and August, and that on the
•contrary it is seen at very extraordinary distances
in the months of January and February, when the
sky is. slightly covered, and immediately after a
heavy rain, or a few hours before it falls. It ap-
pears, thai the transparency of the air is pro-
d^ously increased, as we have already observed,
when a cer'tain quantity -of water is uniformly
diffused through the ^.tmosphere. Indépendant of
•these observations, it is not astonishing, that tiic

flueribe in the estimation of the distance/ Nevertheless, the
angle \yhich th« peak <if the Azores subtended was so great,
^hat' Mr. Cagigal thinks this volcano must be visible at more
than 40 or 4*2 leagues. The tiistance of 37 leagues supposes
aa elevation of 1431 toises. '

peak of Teyde should te seldons^ visiUe ^t a very
remote distance^ ihaxf the summits of the Andes,;
which were so long under my • observations^ Thi»
peak» infaior in height to those parts of the ohaia
of Mount AtlaH, at the foot of >ii)ic|i is the city, of
Mprooco, is not, iike those points * covered with,
perpetual snows. The Piton, or Sugar Loaf,
which terminates the . peak^ no doubt reflects a
great quantity of light» on account of the whitis]^
colour of the pumice stoite ttyrown up by the crater;-
but the height of. this little truncated cone doe»
not form a twenty-secondth part of the.tptal eleva*.
tiop. • The flanks of the volcano are covered either
with Jblocks of black and scorified lava, or with a
luxuriant venation; thejmasses of which reflect
so much the less ligh^ as the leaves of the trees are
separated from each other by shadows of ipore
considerable extent than that of the part which ist
enlightened. . • •

Hence it results» that setting aside tls^ Piton,-
the Peak of Teyde is in the class of those moun-
tains, which, according tO; the expression of Bou<*
guer» are seen at considerable distances only in a
negative manner j becau^ they intercept the light
which is transmitted to us from the extreme limits
of the . atmosphere ; aqd that we perceive their
existence only on account of the differeiJce of
intensity, whicli subsists between the aerial light

* ^ ■ • •

* According to Ilaeet, and Jackson, Account of the Empire
of Morocco, p« 43«

103

^hieh surrotttids th«m^ jtnd that ti^hich is reflected
by the p'articleii of air placed betwfeen the mouti-
fains and the eye of the observer*. Aâ ire with-
draw^ from tht' hie of Teneriffe, the-P^Von or Sugar
Loaf is seen for a Idng time 4n a pbsitive manner^
because it reflects a .^^'hitiph light, and dearly dc-
téf he$ itself from the ôky j but as this cone is only
80 toisfes high> by 40 in breadth at its summit; it
itaà fcèCeritljr bfeen^ a cfuestiGnf , whether froiti the di-
itiihiititeHess of ifs mksà it can be Visible srt dis-
tances which exceed 40 leagues ; end if k be not ra-
ther probable, that navigators distinguish the peaka&
â.small cloud above'the horizon, only when the base
of the Pilon begins to be. *©tsible on il. If we ad-
diit/that the mean breadth of the Sugar I-oaf is
100 toises^ tvefind that the little cone, at 40 leagues
distance, still subtends» in «the horizontal direc-
tion, an anglfe of more thah three minute. This
angle is considerable enough to render an object
visible; and if the height of the Piton greatly ex-
ceeded its basis, the aiigle in- the horizontal direc-
tion might be îtilt irtialler, and the object sdll
continue tb^ make an imj!>ression cm our organs»;

* Traité d'Ojïtiquè, p. "SlBI. M fallows frotivthe experiniettts
of tliè same JEliitbnr^ iti order tbat this d^érence may be6K)inc
perccptUtJ^ to dur organs* and the lOQuatam detach itself dis»
titi^tly frdm the sk^, that one of these lights should be a sia^«
tieth part stronger than the other.*

t Marchand, t. 3, p. 10.

10»

I.

foil* tnicroinetricRl obâenrâtions * bate proved^ thgit
the limit <yf vision is but a . mmute only, trtien the
dtasetisioi» of the objects are the same, in every
direction. We distinguish at ajdistanbe, by-theeye^
only/tninks of trees insulated In a^vast pkiny thougb
the Subtended angte be andser twenty *five seconds.
As the visibity of ah object, which detaches it*
self in a brown color, depends on the quantities of
light which the eye meets with on twnO lines, one of
which eiids at the ti^ountain, and jthe other reaches
on to the surface of the aerial ocean, it follows that
the fetrther we remove» from an object, the smaller
the difference beùoràèybetween thçiight of the sar-
tounding atmosphere, and that of the strata of ^|r
placed* before the mountain^ It is on this account,
that, when less elevated summits begin to appear
above the horizon, they present themselves at
first under a darker tint) than those we discover at
•very great distances. In the same manner, the
visibility of the îhountaîns, which are *een«only
in a negative manner, does not dépend âolely
m thé state of tha.ioWer regions (tf'the air-^ to which
(Hir meteofologieal observations are limited, but
also on its transparency and physical constitbtion
in tho fnost elevated parts ; for the image detaches
itself better in proportion as the aerial light, which
comes froiti the limits of the atmosphere, has been
originally more intense, or. rather has undergone
less loss in }is passage. This consideration ex-
plains to a certain point,.^hy, undçr.a perfectly

104,

f^rènç sky, the state of the tbarjnemetef and the
^lygropneter being precisely the same ia the air
which is nearest the Earth, tb.e peak is «ometimes
visible, .and at other times invisible, to navigatorft
at equal- distances. .It is even probable, that the
chance of perceiving this . volcano would not be
greater,, if the ashy cone, at the summit of which
^3 the. raw tb of the cratpr, were equal, as in Vesu-
f Ids, to a quarter of the total height. These ashes
;yhich- are .pumice stone crumbled into, dust, do
not reflect as much light a§ the §now qf the An-
(Jes.; are the cause why tha mountain, seen from
4fs^r, without .detaching itself in a bright, de-
fe»>:hes itself more feebly in a brown color. ; and
contribute, If yvè may use the expfes§ion,.to equalize
tbiÇ portions of atrial Jight, the variable difference
of which render^. the gbject more or less distinctly
Ti3iWe, . Caicateous mariptain^, stripped .of vegeta-
ble earth, summits covered with granitic sand, the.
high savannahs pf the Cordilleras**, which .are of
^ golden ypUow, are- undoubtedly distic^guished
9t fmalb distances^ better than objects which arc
seen in a pegative ip^qner; but. the theory indi^
cates a certain limit, beypnd .which thesç last de-
tach tberpselyei? njore distinctly from tbç «azur§ >
vault q£ the sky. . , .

The colpssal summits of Quito and Peru, tow-

♦ Los Pajonqlesy from pafa^ straw. It is the name of the
repfnf of the gramma^ ^hich encircles the zone of the peren?,
niat ^nov^, Géogr. v6g, p. 70^

105

«ring above the limit of the perpetual snows, coii*
centre |ill the advantages, which render them visi-»
ble under very small angles. We have stated»
that the circular summit of the peak of Teneriflf
is only a hundred toises in dianSetcr, ' According
to the measures I qnade at Riobamba, in 1803|
the dome* of the Chimborazo, 153 toises below
its summit) consequently in. a point which is 1300
toises higher than the peak, is still 673 toises
(1^12 metres) in breadth. The zone (rf peren-^
niai snows also forms a fourth of the height of
the mountain ; and the base* of this zone, seen
on the coast of the Southern Ocean, fills an
"extent of 3A37 toises (6706 metres). But though
Chimborazo is two thirds higher than the
peak, we do not $ee it^ on account of the curve
oi the globe, at more than 38 miles and a third
farther *. The radiant brilliancy of its snows,-
when at the port of Guayaquil, at the end of
the rainy seasonj it is discovered at the horizon,
m^y lead us to suppose, that it must be seen at
a very great distance in the South Sea. Pi-
lots highly worthy of credit have assured me, that
they have seen it from the rock of Muerto, to

f Without attending to the refraction, the Peak of Tene*
riffe (1Ô04 toiçes) is visible at 1® 57^ 2Î^^ Mount Blanc
(24'40 toises) at 2^ IS"" (/^ ' and Chimborazo (33Ô0 toises)
^ ^^Sb^3(/^. The mean refraction^ suppbsed to be 0*08,
augments this distance^ as to Chimborazo, only fourteen
miles*

106

the southwest of the isle of Puna» at a distance
of 47 leagoes*. Whenever -it has been $een at
a greater, distance, the observers; uncertain of
their longitude, have not beep in a situation to
fuiyiish precise tlata. * •

The aerial light, projected on the mountainsy
increases the visibility of those which' are seen
Jyositivély ; its energy jdiminishes, on the contrary,
the visibility* of the objects, which, like the peak
of Teneriffe and that of the Azores, detach them»
selves in. a brown tint. Bougner, baildhig on
theoretical considerations» fot^nd that according
tO: the constitution ctf our atmosphere, the moun-i»
tains 'seen negatively cantiot be petceiVed alt dis-»
tances, which exceed 35 leagues 'I'. It is impor*^

* According to the chafts of the Deposito Tiydrogrqfico ot
Madrid. fAdmitti'ng 1*" 13' 32^' for the difference of tb«
meVidians of Oaayaquil and Quito, suèh as I found it (06^
serv. Ad. t. ii, p. 298^ 357, and 433) the Mueito Ls a litth
less distant than Chinibora^o*

+ If,, according to the theory of Bôuguer, (traité cT Ô/7-
îîque^p^ 360) the inteiisiiy of the aerial colour, which is re-
fected by the whole of the atmospHei-e towards the horizon
îii a /detenftînale direction, ii eAual to-^—rr q. ; the inteiHU
ty, after a passage of 30 leagoes, would be ^^ q. This
quantity àifkrs frond thé other a little inor.e than one six-
tieth, whilst after a passage of 45 league^, the intensity of

S565

the aerial colour is already t:-— q., which differs too little

C575 ^®^^

firom j^^ q. for the difference to be perceived by outdP-
gans.- From the&ie data we and- by. interpolation, that the
visibility should have ceased at 35 leagues distance.

lor

tant here to observe, that these calculations are.
contrary to experience. The peak of TenefifFe
has been often seen at 36, 38, and even at 40
leagues. Moreov^er, in the viciirity of the Sand-
wich islands, the summit of Mowna Roa*, at â
season when it was without snows, was seen] on
the skirt of*the horizon, at the distance of 5S
leagues. This is the most striking example we
have hitherto known of the visibility of a moun*
tdih ^ and what is the fiaore remarkable, it is ah

* The height of Mowna Roa,' according to Marchand, is

more than 2598 toises ; according to King, it is 2577 toises ;

but these, measures, notwithstanding their accidental coo-

tordance, are not founded on very exact measurements. It

Is a very extraordinary phœnomenon, to see a summit placed

in. the lOth degree of latitude, and wliich is prol)ably 2500

éoises highj entirely stripped of its snows. The very flattened

form of Mowna Roa« the Mesa of the old Spanish charts*

its -insulated situation in the midst of the ocean, and the

frequency of certain wintls^ which, modified by the ascending

current, blow obliquely, may be the principal causes. It

is difficult to believe, that captain Marchant was much deceived

in the estimation of the distance at which he saw, on the

lOlh of October 1791j the summit of Mowna Roa. He had

left the island 6f Owhyhee only the 7th in the evening; and from

the movement of the waters, and the lunar observations of the

19th, it is probable that the distance was even greater than

53 leagues. Besides, an experienced navigator, Mr. Fleu*

rieu, relates, that at a distance of 35 or 36 leagues the peak

of Teneriffe is visible, even in weather that is not perfectly

clear, Voy» dcMarckand, yoU i, p. 408 and 427; vol. ii»

p. 10 and 78.

10,8

object seen negatively which furnishes the ex-
ample. .

I thought it proper to bring together these con-
siderations at the end of this chapter, because in
treating so closely on one of the most important
problems of optics, that of the diminution of light
in its passage across the strata of the atmosphere,
they may be at the same time of some practical
utility. The volcanoes of TcnerifFe, and of the
iAzores, the Sierra Nevada of St Martha, the
peak of Orizaba, the Silla of Car^ccas, Mowna
Roa, and Mount St. Elias, insulated in thé vast
extent of the seas, or placed on the coasts of con-
tinelits, serve as sea marks to direct the pilot,
who is deprived of the means fitted to determine
thé position of the vessel by the observation of
the stars; every thing, which has a relation M
the visibility of these natural seamark^, is inte-
resting to the safety of navigation.

CHAPTER II.

Staif at Ttneriffe — Journey from Santa Cruz
to Orotava. — Excursion to the top<^f the Peak
of Teyde.

From the time of our departure from Graciasa,
the horizon continued so ha:zy, .that notwithstand-
ing the considerable height of the mountains of
Canary '^, ive did nqt discover this island till
the evening of the 1 8th of June. It is the gra-
nary of the archipelago of the Fortunate islands,
and what is verv remarkable in a ref^ion situate
beyond the limits of the tropics, we were as-
sured, that in some districts, there are two wheat
harvests in the year ; one in February, and the
other in June f. Canary has never been visited
by a learned mineralogist; yet this island is so
much the more worthy of observation, as the
physiognomy of. its mountains, disposed in paral-
lel chains, appeared to me to dift'er entirely from
that of the summits of Lanzerota and Teneriffe.

♦ Isla de la Gran Canaria.
t Ltdra, Voyage à Teneriffe, t. i, p. 37.

no

Nothing is more interesting for the geologist,
than to observe the relations, on the same point
of the globe, between volcanic countries, and
those which are primitive or secondary. When
the Canary islands shall have been some day
examined in all the parts, which compose the sys.
tern of these mountains, we shall find, that we
have been too precipitate in considering the
whole group as raised by the action of submarine
fires. • • ' '

The 19th, in the morning, we discovered the
point of Naga *, but the peak of TenerifFe was
still invisible: the land,' obscured t)y a thick fog,
presented forms that were vague and confused.
As we approached the road of Santa Cruz, we
observed that these vapours, driven by the winds,
drew nearer. The sea was strongly agitated, as
it most commonly is in those latitudes. We an-
chored after several soundings, for the mist "was
so thick, that we could scarcely distinguish ob-
jects at a few cables* distance v but at the mo-
ment we began to salute the place, the fog was
instantly dispelled. The Peak of Teyde appeared
in a break above the clouds, and the first rays of
the sun, which had not yet risen on us, illuminated
the summit of the volcano. We hastened toward
the bow of the vesçel, to enjoy the mnghificent
spectacle, when at the same instant we saw four

* Punta de Naga^ Anaga, or-Nago^

Ill

English ships of the royal navy lying to very near
the poop. We had passed without being per*
ceived ; and the ^me mist, which had Ridden the
peak from our view, had saved us from the dan-
ger of being c^irried back to Europe, It ivould
have been very painful to naturalists^ to have seen
the coast of TenerifFe, without having been able to
tread a soil torn up by volcanoes. •

We immediately got up our anchor, and the Pi-
zarro stood in as close as possible to the fort, to be
under its protection. It was on this shore, that,
^n the landing attempted by the English two
years before our arrival *, admiral Nelson had
his arm carried of by a cannon ball. The gover-
nor general of the Canaries -f sent an order to
the captain of the sloop, to put on shore, the dis-*
patches from the court for the goyernors of the
coloniesit the money on board, and the public
correspondence- The English vessels left the
road, having given chace the evening before to
the packet boat the Alcudia, whicli had left Co-
ruYma a few days before us. She was obliged
to touch at the port of Palmas, in the isle of
Canary, and. several passengers, who were going
in a boat to Santa Cruz, had been made pri-
soners.

The situation of this town is very similar to that

* fn the month of July, 1797*
•{ Don Andrea de Perlasca.

hi

/

6f La Guayra, the most frequented port of the
province of Caraccas. The heat is excessive • iii
both places, and from the same causes ; but the as-
pect of SaUta Cruz is more gloomy. On a narrow and
sandy beach, houses of dazzling whiteneçs, with flat
rodfs,'and windows without glass, are stuck against a
Wall of black perpendicular rocks, stripped of ve-
getation. A fine lilole, built of free stone, and the
public walk planted with poplars, are thé only ob*
jects, which break the sameiiess of the landscape.
The view of the peak, such as it presents itself
nbdve Santa Cruz, is much less picturesque than
that we enjoy from the poft of Orotava. Thôrè, a
highly cultured and smiliiig plain offers a pleasing
coiitrast with the wild aspect of the volcano. Froni
the groups of palm trees and bananas, which line
the coast tcT tlie region of the arbutus, the laurel,
and the pine, the volcanic rock is crowned with
luxuriant vegetation. We easily conceive how tlie
inhabitants, even of the beautiful climates of Greece
and Italy, fancied that they recognised one of the
Fortunate Isles in the western part of Teneriffé.
The eastern side," that of Santa Cruz, on the con-
trary, is every whei'e struck with the marks of ster-
ility. The summit of the peak is not more arid
than the promontory of basaltic lavas, which
stretches towards the point of Naga, and on which
succulent plants, springing up in the clefts of the
rocks, scarcely indicate a preparation of soil. At
the port of Orotava, the top of the Piton subtends

113

an angle in height of more than eleven degrees and
a half! whilst at the mole of Santa Cruz*' this
angle scarcely exceeds 4^ 36''.

Notwithstanding this difference, and though in
the latter place the volcano rises above the horizon
scarcely as much as Vesuvius seen from the mole
of Naples, the aspect of the peak is still very
majestic^ when those who anchor in the road
discover it for the first time. The Piton alone
was visible to us ; its cone projected itself on a
sky of the purest blue, whilst dark thick clouds
enveloped tlie rest of the mountain to the height of
1800 toises. The pumice stone^ illumined by the
first rays of the sun, reflected a reddish light, like
that which paints the summits of the higher Alps.
This light by degrees becomes a dazzling whiteness;
and, deceived like the greater part of travellers, we
thou^t that the peak w^as still covered with snows,
and that we should with difficulty reach the edge
of the crater.

We have remarked, in th« Cordilleras of the
Andes, that the conical mountains, such as
Cotopaxi and Tungurabua, are oftener seen
free from clouds, than those mountains» the
tops of which are broken into l^ristly points, like
Antisana and Picliincha; but the peak of Te-
nerifFe, no twitli standing its pyramidical form, is a
great part of the year enveloped in vapours, and

* The oblique distance from the top of the volcano to Orotava
and to Santa Ct\^ are nearly 8600 toifcs and 2^500 toises.

VOL. I. I

114

iè sonfetimes, during several week?, invisible from
the road ef Santa Cruz. Its position to the' west
of an immense continent, and its insulated situa*
tion in the midst of the seais, are no doubt the
causes of this phenomenon* Navigators are well
apprised, that the smallest islets, those which are
without mountains, collect iaod harbour tiie clouds.
The decrettient of heat is also different above the
plains of Africa, ahd above the surface of the
ocean*; and the strata of air, brought by the trade
winds, cool in proportion as they advance tov/ards
the west. If the air has beeii extremely dry above
the burning sands of the desert ; it is very quii^kly
saturated when it ba^ entered into contact with the
surface of the sea, or with the air that lies on this
surface. It is èaày to conceive^ therefore, why tlie
vapors become visible in the atmospherical strata,

m

which, at à distance from the continent, have ilo
longer the sa^he temperature as when they began
to be saturated with water. The considerable mass
of a mountain, wifich rises in the midst of the
Atlantic, is abb an obstacle to the clouds, which are
driven out to sea by the winds.

We waited long and impatiently the permission
of the governor of the place to land. I eneiployed
this time in making the necessary observations for
determining tlie Idngitude of the mole of Santf
Cruic, and th^ dip of the needle, fiertboud'

• Obs. Ast. t. i, p. \i6.

115

. chronometer gaATT, for the first 18^ 33' 10^. Tins
differs three or four minutes from the result of
former observ^itions by ï'ieurieu, Kngré, Eorda,
Vancouver, and La Peyrouse, M. Quenot never-
iheless obtained J8<> 33^ 36^'', and the unfortunatp
# Captain Bligh 1 89 3é^ 9Xi' \ . The precision of my
result was confirmed three years after, the
voyage of the chevalier Krusenstern, who found
Santa Cruz 16® \9! 45'^ west of Greenwich, and
consequently 18® B3^ Or/ west of Paris. These
data prove, that the longitudes Captain Cook
assigned to Teneriffe and the Gape of Good Hope
are much too far wesjt *• The sanie navigator had
found the magnetic dip, in 1799, fil^ 52a M.
-Bonpland and myself observed it at 62*^ SV, a re-
sult conformable to that which was obtained in
1791 by M. de Rossel in the voyage of D'Entre-
.casteaux f . The variation of the needlediffers several
degrees, according to the placé where the observa-
tion is made, at the Mole, or at several points to
the north, along the shore. We must not be
surprised at these vxiriations in a place sul-rounded
.by volcanic rocks. I remarked with M. Gay-
Lussac, that on the declivity of Vesuvius, and in
4he inside of its crater, the intensity of the mag-

* Galeano, Viage'ad Magelli^nes, p. 8 :' Krpseqstern, Reise
um die Welt> th. i, s. 78 : and my Obs. Astron, t. i, p. xxxvii,
57, and 33.

t Voyage à la {Recherche de la Peyi^ouse, t. 2, p. 291.

I 2

116

netic forces is modified bytlie proximity of the
lavas *.

After having undergone the fatigue of answer-
ing the numberless questions about political events
put by persons who came to visit us on board, we
landed. The boat vi^as immediately sent back to
the shipi lest the surf, which in this road is very
dangerous, should drive it against the mole. The
first object that met our view was a tall woman, of
a very tawny complexion, and badly clothed, who
was called the capitana* She was followed by
several others, whose dress was not more becom-
ing. They all earnestly requested permission to
go on board the Pizarro, which was of course re-
fused. In this port, so much frequented by Eu-
ropeans, licentiousness bears the semblance of
order. The capitana is a chief chosen by her com-
panions, over whom she exercises great authority.
She prevents whatever may be injurious to the ser-
vice of the vessels; she engages the ^sailors to
return on board at their stated hours. It is to her
that the pfficers apply, when they fear that any of
their crew conceal themselves with the intention of
deserting.

On entering the streets of Santa Cruz, we felt a
suffocating heat, though the thermometer was not
above 25 degrees. Those who have for a long

* Mémoires de la Société d'A'rcueil, t. i, p. 9.

117

time breafihed the air>of the seat, suffer every tînie
they land ; not, because this air contains more
oxygen than the air on shore, as has been errone-
ously stated, but because it is less charged with
those gazeous combinations^, which the animal
and vegetable substances, and the mud resulting
from their decomposition, pour into the atmosphere.
Miasms that escape chemical analysis have a
powerful effect on our organs, especially when these
have not titidergone for a long while the same
kind of irritation^

Santa Cruz, the Annaza of the Guanches^ is a
ne^t town, with a population of 8000 souls. I
was not struck with the excessive number of monks
and secular ecclesiastics, which travellers have
thought themselves under the necessity of finding in
every country under the Spanish government : nor
shall I stop to enter into the description of the
churches ; the library of the Dominicans, which
contaitis scarcely a few hundred volumes ; the
mole, where the inhabitants assemble to inhale the

•

freshness of the evening breeze ; or the famed
monument of marble of Carara, thirty feet high,
dedicated to our Lady of the Candelariay in
memory of her miraculous appearance, in 1 39S, at
Chinjisay, near Guimar. The port of Santa
Cruz may be considered as a great caravansary, on

«

the road to America and the Indies. Every travel j

* Nouv. Espag. t. ii, p.787*

118

A

1er, who I^TÎteiB the narrative of his advénturèii,
begins by à description of Madeira arid TenérifFe ;
and if In the natural history of these islands there
yet remains as it were, an inmincnse field untrod,
we must admit, that the topography of the little
towns of Funchal, Santa Cruz, Laguna, and
Orbtava, leaves scarcely any thing untold*.

The recomniendation of the court of Madrid
procured us in the Canaries, as in all the other
Spanish possessions, the most satisfactory recep-
tion. The captain general gave us immediate
permission to examine the island. CoU Armiaga,
who commanded a regiment of infantry, received us
into his house with kii^d hospitality. We could
not cease admiring the banana, the pa paw tree,
the poinçiana pulchèrrima, and other plants, w:hich
'we had hitherto seen only in hot houses, culti-
vated in bis garden in the open air. The cli-
mate of the Canaries however is not warm
enough to ripen the real platcmo arton^ with tri-
angular fruit ïrotii ëeven'.or eight inches long, and
which, requiring a temperaturc of 24 centesimal
degrees, does not floufisb even in the Valley of Ca-
raccas, The bapana^ of TenerifFe are those named

♦ Borda, Voy. de la Flore, t. i, p, 86. Vieyrâ, Noticiaa
bistoricas. t. ii, p. 1^4. Bory de St. yincent, Essai sur les
Isles Fortunées, p. 230. Ledru, Voyagé aux Isles de 'rene-
riffe et de Porto-Rico, t. i, p. 37. Milbert, Voy. pitt. à
\* Isle de Frrance, t. i, pp 9. Lord Macartney's Voyage^
vol. i, p. 74.

lift

by the Çfpanish planters camburis or guweos, and
dominicos. The carnburi, which suffer3 the least
from the cold, is even cultivated with success at
Malaga *; but the fruit which we see occasionally
at Cadiz comes from the Canary islands by ves-
sels, which make the passage in three or four,
days. In general, the niusa, known by every
people under the torrid zone, . though hitherto
never found in a wild state, has as great a va-
riety of fruit as oyr apple and pear trees^ These
varieties f, which are confounded by the greater
part ^f botanists, though they require a very
different climate, are become permanent by long,
cultivation.

We went to herbali.ze in the evening towards
the fort of Passo Alto, along the basaltic rocks
that close tlie promontory of Naga. We were
very little satisfied with our harvest, for the
drought and dust had almost destroyed vegeta-
tion. The cacalia kleinia, the euphorbia cana-
riensis, and several other succulent plants, which
draw their nourishment from the air rather than
tlie soil on which they grow, reminded us by
tlieir appearance, that this group of islands be-
longs to Africa, and even to the most arid part
of that continent.

Tliough the captain of the ship had orders to

* The mean temperature of this town is only 18
* Nouv. Esp. t. ii, p. 562 •

ISO

atop long enough at TenerifFe, to give us time
to scale the summit of the Peak, if the snows
did not prevent our ascent, we received notice,
on account of the blockade of the English ships,
not to hope a longer delay than that of four or
five days. We consequently hastened our de^
parture for the port of Orotava, which is situate
on the western declivity of the volcano, where we
were sure of finding guides. I could iind no
one at Santa Cruz, who had mounted the Peak,
and I wa^ not surprised at this. The most cur
rlous objects become less interesting, in propor-
tion as they are placed nearer to us; and I
bave known inhabitants of SchafFbaussen, in Swit-
zerland, who had never seen the fall of the Rhine
jbut at a distance.

The 20th of June, before sunrise, we began
our excursion by ascending to the Villa de La-
guna, elevated 350 toises * above the port of San-
jta Cruz. We could not verify this estimation of
the height, the surf ngt having permitted us tp
return on board during the night, to take our ba-
rometers and dipping needle. As we foresaw,
that our expedition to the Peak would be very
precipitate, we consoled ourselves easily with the
idea of not exposing instruments, which were to
serve ms in countries less known by Europeans.

f Thi^ estimation is but an approximation. S^c the potp
f^^ the en(| of thf tiiird cbapten

121

The road by which we ascended to Laguna is on
the right of a torrent, or barancoy which in the
rainy season forms fine cascades; it is narrow
and tortuous. I liave been assured since my re-
turn, that 'Mr, de Perlasca has laid out a new
road, which will admit carriages. Near the town
we met some white camels, which seemed to be
very slightly laden. The chief employment of
these animals is to transport merchandise from
the customhouse to the warehouses of the mer-
chants. They are generally laden with two chests
of Havanna sugar, which together weigh 900
pounds ; but this load may be augmented to thir-
teen hundred weight, or 52 arrobas of Castile.
Camels are not plenty at TenerifFe; while they
exist by thousands in the two isles of Lanze-
rota and Fortaventura: the climate and vegetation
of these islands, placed nearer Africa, are more
analogous to those of that continent. It is very
extraordinary, that this useful animal, which
brçeds in South America^ «hould be almost bar*
ren at TenerifFe. In the fertile district of Adexe
only, where the plantations of the sugar cane are
most considerable*, camels have sometimes been
known to breed. These beasts of burden, as
well as horses, were brought into the Canary
islands in the fifteenth century by the Nor-

* The}! do not at present produce yearly above 300 quin-
ials of inplst sugar.,

\

12S

man œnquerors. The Guanches were «nac-
quainted with them ; and this fact seems to be
very well accounted for by the difficulty of trans-
porting an animal of such bulk in frail canoes,
without recurring to the necessity of considering
the Guanches as a remnant of the people of the
Atlantis, or a different race from that - of the
western Africans;

The hill, on which the town of San Christo-
bal de la Laguna is built, belongs to the system
of basaltic ixiountains, which, indépendant of the
system of less ancient volcanic rocks, form a broad
girdle around the peak of Teneriffe, llie basalt
on which we walked was of a darkish brown,
compact, half decomposed, and exhaled, when
breathed on, a clayey smell. We discovered
hornblende, olivine *, and translucid pyroxenes f ,
with a perfectly lamellar fracture, of a tender
olive green, and often crystallized in prisms of six
planes. Tjiè first of these substances is extremely
rare at Teneriffè; and I never found it in' the
lavas of Vesuvius ; those of Etna alone contain
it in abundance. Notwithstanding the great nurn^
ber of blocks, wliich we stopped to break, to
the gœat regret of our guides, we could disco-
ver neither nepheline, nor leucitej^ nor feldspath.
This, which is so cotomon in the basaltic lavas

• Peridot granuli forme. Hauy.
t Augit. Werner.
I Amphigene. Hauy«

15:3

of the island of Tschîà, does not begin to appear
at TeneritFe, till we approach the volcano. The
rock of Lagnna is not columnar, Kut divid-
ed into ledges of small thickness, and inclined
to the east under an angle of SO or 40 degrees.
It has no where the appearance of a current of
lava flowing from the sides of the peak. If tlie
present volcano has given birth to these basaltes,
we must suppose, that, like the substances which
cjompose the Somma, at the back of Vesuvius,
they are the effect of a submarine effusion, in
which the liquid mass has formed real strata.
A few bushy euphorbiums, the cacalia kleinia,
and Indian fîgs (cactus), which are become wild
in the Canary islands, as well as in the south
of Europe and the whole continent of Africa,
are the only plants we see on these arid ix)cks.
The feet of our mules were slipping every mo-
ment on -beds of stone, which were very steep.
We nevertheless recognized the remains of an
ancient pavement. In these colonies we dis-
cover at every step some traces ot that activity,
which the Spanish nation displayed in the l6th
century.

As we approached Laguna, we felt the tem-
perature of the atmosphere gradually decrease.
This sensation is so much the more agreeable, as
the air of Santa Cruz is very suffocating. As our
organs are moi^e- affected by disagreeable impres-
fiionsy the change of temperatui'e becomes still

1S4

iHore sensible when we return from Laguna to
the port : we seem then to be drawing near the
mouth of a furnace. The same impressioii is felt,
when, on the coast of Caraccas, we descend from
the mountain of Avila to the port of La Guayra,
According to the law of the decrement of heat,
three hundred toises in height produce in this
latitude only three or four degrees difference in
temperature.. The. heat which overpowers the
traveller on his entrance into Santa Cruz, or La
Guayra, ought consequently to be attributed to
the reverberation from the rocks, against which
these towns are built.

The perpetual coolness, which is found at La-
guna, is the reason why in the Canaries it is con-
sidered a$ a dclijs^htful ebode. Situate in a small
plain, surrounded by gardens, protected by a hill
which is crowned by a wood of laurels, myrtle,
and arbutus, the capital of Tenerifte is very beau-
tifully placed. We should be mistaken, if, ac-
cording to the accoimt of some travellers, we be-
lieved it seated on the border of a lake. The rain
sometimes forms a sheet of water of some extent ;
and the geologist, who beholds in every thing tho
past rather than the present state of nature, can
have no doubt, but that the whole plain is a great
basin dried up. Laguna, fallen from its opulence,
since the latéral eruptions of the volcano have de-
stroyed the port of Garachico, and Santa Cru? has
become the centre of the commerce of this isl^d.

125

contains only 9000 inhabitants, of whom nearly
400 are monks, divided among six convents,
Sonie travellers . have asserted, that half the popu-
lation wore the ecclesiastic dress. Tlie town is
surrounded with a: great number of windmills,
which indicate the cultivation of wheat in the$e
high countries. I shall oBserfc on this occasion,
that different kinds of grain were known to the
Guanches, They culled wheat at Teneriflfe tanOj
at Lanzerota triffa ; barley, in the grand Canary,
l)ore the name of aramoianoque^ and at Lanzerota
that of tamosen. The flower of roasted barley
(gofio) and goat*s milk constituted the principal
food of this nation, on the origin of which so
many systematic fables have bçjgn built. These ali-
rnents are sufRcierit proofs, that the race of the
Guanches belonged to the nations of the old con-
tinent perhaps to those of Caucasus, and not like
the rest of the Atlantides*, to the inhabitants of
the New World ; these, before the arrival of the
Europeans, were unacquainted with corn, and
milk, and cheese.

A great number of chapels^ which the Spaniards
call ermitas, encircle the town^of Laguna. Shaded

• Without entering here into dny discussion respecting the
existence of the Atlantis, I shall cite thé opinion of Diodom^
Siculus, according to Mfhom the Atlantides were ignorant of
the use of corn, because they were separated from the rest of
mankind before these gramina were cultivated. Dioi, Skul»
t. Ill, p. 130, Wcssel. '

126

by tr^es of perpetual verdure, and placed on small
eminences, these chapeU add to the picturesque
effect of the landscape. Tlie interior side of the town
is not. equal to its external appearance. The
houses are solidly built, but very antique, and the
streets seem deserted. A botanist ought nqt to
complain of the antiquity of the edifices. The
roofs and walls are covered with Canary house-
leek, and those elegant trichomanes, mentioned by
every traveller. These plants are nourished by
the frequent fogs.

Mr. Anderson, the naturalist in the third voy-
age of Captain Cook, advises the European phy-
sicians to send their sick to Teneriffe, undoubtedly
jiot from those motives, which induce some prac-
titioners to prefer the mineral watery th^t are at
the gp*eatest distance, but on account of the mild-
^e)5s of the temperature ^nd equaj cliaj^te of the
Canaries. The: ground on these islands rises^ in an
amphitheatre, and presents simultaneously, 'as in
Peru and Mexico^ the temperature of every cli-
mate, fronr the heats of Africa to the cold of the
Jaigher Alps. Santa Cruz, the port of Orotava,
the town of the same name, and that of Laguna^
are four places, the mean temperatures of which
form a descending series. In tlie- south of Europe,
'the change of the seasons is still too perceptible,
to offer the same advantages. Teneriffe on the
coDtrarv. situate as it were on the threshold of the

'■ - • a. ,

tropics, though but a few days' fail from Spain,

127

shares in the beauties, which nature has lavished
on the equinoctial regions. Vegetation here dis-
plays some of its fairest and most majestic forms
in the banana and the pahn-tree. He who is
awake to the charms of nature finds in this deli-
cious island remedies still more potent than the
climate. No abode appeared to me more fitted
to dissipate melancholy, and restore peace to the
perturbed mind, than that of Teneriffe, or Madeira.
The^e advantages are the effect not of the beauty
of the site and the purity of the air alone ; the
moral feeling is no longer harrowed up by the view
of slavery, the appearance of which is so revolting
in the West Indies, and in every other place, whi-
ther European planters have conveyed what they
call their civilization, and their industry.

In winter the climate of Laguna is extremely
foggy, and the inhabitants often complain of the
cold. A fall of snow however has never been
seen,, which may seem to indicate, that the mean
temf^rature of this town must4>e above 18*7*^ (15*
R.), that is to say, exceeding tliat of Naples- I
do not lay this down as a rigorous conclusion; for
in winter, the refrigeration of the clouds does not
depend so much on thé mean temperature of tbje
whole year, as on the instantaneous diminution gf
heat, to which a district is exposed by its local
situation. The mean temperature of the capital
of Mexico, for instjince, is only, l6'8® (13'5» R.)
nevertheless,: in the space of a hundred years,

138

snow has fallen only once, while in the south of
Europe, and in Africa, it snow^ in places where
the mean temperature is above \9 degrees.

The vicinity of the sea renders the climate of
Laguna more temperate in Minter, than it would
otherwise be on account of its elevation above the
level of the ocean. I was even astonished to leanj,
that M. Broussonet had planted in the midst of
this town, in the garden of the Marquis de Nava,
the bread-fruit tree (artocarpus incisa), and cinna-
mon tree (laurus cinnamomum). These valuable
productions of the South Sea and the East Indies
are naturalized there as well as at Orotava. Does
not this attempt prove, that^ the bread-fruit might
flourish in Calabria, Sicily, and Grenada? The
culture of the coffee tree has not equally succeed-
ed at Laguna, though its fruit ripens at Tegufista,
as well as between the port of Orotava and the,
village of St. Juan de la Rambla. It is pro-
bable, that some local circumstances, perhaps the
nature of the soil^ and the winds that prevail in
the flowering season, are the cause of this pheno*-
menon. In other regions, in the neighbourhood
of Naples for instance, the C(.ffee-tree produces
abundantly, though the mean temperature scarcely
rises above 1 8 centigrade degrees.

No person has ascertained, in the island of Te-
neriffe, the lowest height at which snow falls every
year. This fact, easy of execution by barometri-
cal measurements, has hitherto been generally

t 129 •

neglected under every «one ; it is nevertheless
highly interesting both to agriculture in the co-
lonies and meteorology, aifd full as important as
the measure of the limit of the perpetual snows.
My observations furnished me with the data,
which I shall record in the following table.

Northern

latUude.

Oo

Lowest heightl Inferior limit

at which Uie I of the.perpe>

suuw falls* I tuul snows.

toises, metres toises. Imetrcs

Difference of
the two prece-
ding columns.

S040

20«

40<

1550

3976

30/20

S460 47M

2860

4598

toises.

metres

4S0

810

818

Meftn
temperatare»

Cent,

«î»

1578 845*

1540 < 3001 1 1540

r

Reau,

«I-6*

196»

SOOll IT» 13-6»

This table presents only the ordinary state of
nature, that is to say, the phsenomena as they
are annually observed. Exceptions founded on
particular local circumstances, exist. Thus it
sometimes snows, though seldom, at Naples, at
Lisbon, and even at Malaga, consequently as low
as the S7th degree iA latitude : and, as we have
just observed, snow has been seen to fall at Mex-
ico, the elevation of which is 1173 toises above
the level of the Ocean. This phaenomenon,
which had not been seen for several centuries,
took place on the day that the Jesuits were ex-'
pelled, and was attributed by the people to this
act of severity. A more striking exception was
found in the climate of Valladolid, the capital of
the province of Mecboacan. According to my

VOL. I. K

130

measures,* this height of the town, situate in
19^ 42^ of latitude, is only a thousand toises:
and yet, a few years before our arrival in New
Spain, the streets were covered with snow for
some hours.

Snow has been seen to fall also at Teneriffe,
in^ a place lying above Esperanza de la Laguna,
very near the town of this name, in the gardens
of which the aitocarpus flourishes. Tliis ex-
traordinary fact was confirmed to M. Brous-
sonet by very aged persons. The erica ar-
borea, the myrica faya^ and the arbutus calli-
carpa*, did not suffer from this anow ; but it de-
stroyed all the swine in the open air. This ob-
servation is interesting to vegetable physiology.
In hot countries, the plants are so vigorous, that
cold is less injurious to them, provided it be of
short duration. I have seen the banana culti-
vatcd in the island of Cuba, in places where the
thermometer descends to seven centesimal degrees,
and sometimes very near the freezing point. In
Italy and Spain the orange and date trees do
not perish, though the cold during the night is
two degrees below the freezing point. In general
it is remarked by cultivators, that the trees which
grow in a fertile soil are less delicate, and con-
sequently less affected by great clianges in the

* This fine arbutus, imported by M. Broussonet, is very
-âîrferent from the arbutus laurifolia,^with which it has been
'•dat)t<^uiid^-aàd:=)i(^ch belongs to North America,

131

temperature, than those which grow in land that
affords but little nutriment*.

In order to pass from the town of Laguna to
the port of Orotava and the western coast of
Teneriffe, we cross at first a* hilly region covered
with black and argillaceous earth, in which are
found some small crystals of pyroxene. The wa-
ters most probably detach these crystals from the
neighbouring rocks, as at Frascati near Rome.
Unhappily, strata of ferruginous earth conceal
the soil from the researches of the geologist. It
is only in some ravines, that we find columnar
basaltes, somewhat curved, and above them very
recent breccias, resembling volcanic tufa. These
breccias contain fragments of tlje same basaltes
which they cover ; and it is asserted, that marine
petrifactions are observed in them. The same
phaenomenon occur? in thie Vicentin, near Monte-
chio Macjsiore.

The valley of Tacoronte is the entrance into
this charming country, of which travellers of
every nation have spoken with rapturous enthu-

"^ * The mulberries^ cultivated in the meagre and sandy soils
of countries bordering on the Baltic Sea, are examples of
this feebleness of organization. The late frosts do more in-
jury to them, than to the. mulberries of Piedmont. In Italy
a cold of 5° below the freezing point does not destroy robust
orange' trees. According to Mr. Galesio, these trees, less
tender than the , lemon and bergamot orange trees, freeze
only at ten centesimal degrees below the freezing point.

K 2

132

siasm. Under the torrid zone I found sites, where
nature is more majestic, and richer in the display
of organic forms; but after havving traversed the
banks of the Orinoco, the Cordilleras of Peru,
and the most beautiful valleys of Mexico, -I own,
*hat I have never beheld a prospect more varied,
more attractive, more harmonious in the distribua

tion of the masses of verdure and of rocks.

» ...

The seacoast is lined with date and cocoa trees.
Groups of musa, as the country rises, form a
pleading contrast with the dragon-tree, the trunks
of which have been justly compared to the tortu-
ous form of the serpent The declivities are co- ^
vered with vines, which throw their branches over
towering poles. Orange très loaded with flowers,
myrtles, and cypress t(ees entwine the chapels
reared to devotion on the isolated hills» The
divisions of property are marked by hedges formed
of the agave and the cactus. An innumerable quan-
tity of cryptogamous plants, among which ferns
are the most predominant, cover the walls, moist-
ened by small springs of limpid water. In winter,
when the volcano is buried under ice and snow,
this district enjoys perpetual spring. In summer,
as the day declines, the breezes from the sea come
loaded with delicious coolness. The population of
this coast is very considerable ; and it appears to
be still greater than' it is, because the houses and
gardens are more distant from each other, which
adds to the picturesque beauty of the situation.

135

Unhappily the real weWkre of the inhabitants does not
correspond with the exertions of their industry» or
with the advantages which nature has lavished on
this spot. The farmers are not proprietors ; the
fruits of their labour belong to the nobles, and
those feudal institutions, which, for so long a time,
spread misery throughout Europe, still weigh
heavily on the happiness of the people of the
Canary Islands.

From Tegueste and Tacoronte to the village of
St. Juan dé la Rambla, which is celebrated for its
excellent malmsey, the rising hills are cultivated
like a garden. I might compare them to the en-
virons of Capua and Valentia, if the western part
of TeneritFe was not infinitely more beautiful on
account of the proximity of the Peak, which pre-
sents on every side a varied landscape. The view
of this mountain is interesting not merely from its
gigantic mass ; it fills the mind, by carrying it back
to the mysterious source of its volcanic agency.
For thousands of yeart, no fiâmes or light have
been perceived on the summit of the Piton, never-
theless enormous lateral eruptions, the last of which
took place in 1798, are proofs of the activity of a
fire still far from being extinguished. There is also
something, that leaves a melancholy impression on
the mind on seeins[ a crater in the centre of a fer-
tile and well cultivated country. The history of
the globe instructs us, that volcanoes destroy what
they have been a long series of ages in creating.

■v

134

Islands, which the action of submarine fires has
raised above the Waters/ are decked by degrees in
rich and smiling verdure; but these new abodes
are often laid waste by the renewed action of .the
same power, which caused them to emerge from
the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps those islets,
which are now but heaps of scorias and volcanic
ashes, were once as fertile as the hills of Taco-
route and Sauzal. Happy the country, where
man has no distrust of the soil on which he lives !

Pursuing our course to the port of Qrotava,
we passed the smiling hamlets of Matanza and
Vittoria. These names are mingled together in all
the Spanish colonies, and form a disagreeable con-
trast with the feelings of peace and tranquillity,
which those countries inspire. Matanza signifies
butchery, or carnage ; and the word alone recalls
the price, at which victory has been purchased.
In the New World, it generally indicates the defeat
of the natives ; at TeneriflFe, the village of Matanza
was built in a place* whei'e the Spaniards were
conquered by those same Guanches, who soon after
)¥ere sold as sjaves in the markets of Europe.

Before we reached Orotava, we visited a botanic
garden at a small distance from the .port We
(here found M. Le Gros, the French vice-consul,
who had often scaled the summit of the Peak, and
>\ho served us as an excellent guide. He wa?

• The apcicnl Acantejo.

135

accompanying Captain Baudin in a voyage to the
West Indies, which has largely contributed to en-
rich the garden of plants at Paris. A dreadful
tempest, of which M. Le Dru has given an account
in the narrative of his voyage to Porto Rico
forced the vessel tg put into Teneriffe -, where
M. Le Gros was led by the beauty of the spot to
settle. It was he who gave the learned of Europe
the first accurate ideas of the great lateral erup-
tions of the Peak, which has been very improperly

•

called the explosion of the volcano of Chahorra *.
The establishment of a botanical garden at
Tenerifl'e is a very happy idea, on account of the
double influence, which it may have on the pro-
gress of botany, and on the introduction of useful
plants into Europe. For the first idea of it we are
indebted to the Marquis de Nava f , whose name
deserves to be recorded w;th that of M. Poivre,
and who, habitually engaged in doing good, has
made a noble use of his fortune. He undertook,
at an enormous expense, to level the hill of
Durasno, which now rises as an amphitheatre, and
which was begun to be planted in 1795. The
marquis thought, that the Canary Islands, from the
mildness of their climate and geographical position,
afforded the most suitable place for naturalising the
productions of the two Indies, and serving as s^

* The 8 ih of June, 1798.
I Marquis de Villanueva del Prado,

136

repository to habituate the plants gradually to the
colder temperature of the south of Europe. In
fact, the plants of Asia, Africa, and South Ame-
rica, may easily be brought to Orotava; and in
order to introduce the bark-tree * into Sicily,
Portugal, or Grenada, it should be first planted at
Durasno, or at Laguna, and the shoots of this tree
may afterwards be transported into Europe , from
the Canaries. In happier times, when maritime
wars shall no longer interrupt communication, the
garden of TenerifFe may become extremely useful
with respect to the great number of plants, \vhich are
sent from the Indies to Europe ; for ere they
reach our coasts, they often perish, on account of
the length of the passage, during which they inhale
an air impregnated 'with salt water. These plants
would meet at Orotava with the care and climate
necessary to their preservation. The keeping of
the botanic garden having become every year more
expensive, the Marquis de Nava has ceded it to
the government. We found in it a well-informed

* I speak of the species of bark-tree (cinchona), which at
Peru, and . in the kingdom of New Grenada, flourish on the
back of the Cordilleras, at th'e height of between 1000 and
1500 toises, in places where the thermometer is between nine
.â4)J ten degrees during the day, and from three to four during
the night. The oranged bark-tree (cinchona lancifolia) is
much less tender than the red bark-tree (c. oblongifolia). See
the Memoir on the Forests of the bark-tree, which I published
in 1S07, in the Magasin der Nciturkunde, B. i, p. 1 IS»

isr

gardener, who had been brought up under Mr.
Aiton, director of the royal garden at Kew. The
earth is raised in terraces, and watered by a
natural spring. It has a view of the island of
Palma, which appears like a castle in the midst of
the ocean. We found this establishment but little
stocked with plants, vacant places of genera were
filled up with tickets, the names of which seemed to
have been taken by chance, as they were found in the
systema vegetabilium of Linnœus. This distribu-
tion of plants, after the classes of the sexual
system, which is unhappily the case in several
gardens in Europe, is very hostile to their cultiva-
tion. At Durasno, the protei, the psidium, the
jambos, the chirimoya of Peru *, sensitive plants,
and heliconias, flourish in the open air. We
gathered the ripened seeds of several beautiful
species of glycine from New Holland, which the
governor of Cumana, Mr. Emparan, successfully
cultivated, and which since grow wild on the
coasts of South America.

We arrived very late at the port of Orotava f, if
we may give the name of port to a road, in which
the vesselis are obliged to put to sea whenever the
winds blow violently from the [north-west. It is
impossible to speak of Orotava, without recalling

* Annona chcrimolia. Lamarck.

t Puerto de la Cruz. The only fine port of the Canary
Islands is that of St. Sebastian, in Ihe isle of Gomera,

1S8

to the remembrance of the scientific world the
name of Mr. Cologan, whose house at all thues
was open to travellers of every nation. Several
members of this respectable family have been
educated at London and at Paris. Don Bernardo
Cologan unites the most ardent zeal for the good
of his country to various parts of solid instruction.
We are agreeably surprised to find, in a group of
islands near the coasts of Africa, that urbanity,
that taste for knowledge, that love of the arts,
which is thought to belong exclusively to a small
part of Europe.

We could have wished to have sojourned for
some time in Mr. Cologan's house, and visited .
with him the charming scenery of St. Juan de
là Rambla and of Rialexo de Abaxo*. But on
a voyage such as that y,ve had undertaken, the
present is but little enjoyed. Continually haunted
by the fear of not executing the designs of the
morrow, we live in perpetual uneasiness. Persons
who are passionately fond of nature and the arts
feel the santie sensations, when they travel through
Switzerland and Italy. Enabled to see but a
small portion of the objects which allure them,
they are disturbed in their enjoyments by the re-
straints they impose on themselves at every step.

On the morning- of the 21st of June, we were

* The last of these two villages is placed at the foot of the
lofty mountain o£ Tygayga*

1S9

already on the. road for the summit of the volcano.
JVf. Le Gros, whose attentions were unwearied,
M. Lalande, secretary of the French Consulate
at Santa Cruz, and the Engtish gardener at Du-
rasno, shared in the fatii^ues of this excursion.
The day was- not very fine, and the summit of the
Peak, which is generally visible at Orotava from
sunrise till, ten o'clock, was covered with thick
clouds. There is only one path to the volcano,
by the Villa de Orotava, the Plain of Spar tium^
and the Malpais ; it is this which was taken by
father Feuillée, Borda, La Billardierc, Barrow, and
all late travellers, who have made but a short stay
at TenerifFe. In an excursion to the Peak, as
well as in those which arc commonlv made in the
valley of Chamouni anî to the top of Etna, where
we are forced to follow the guide, we see almost
nothing but what has been already seen and de-
scribed by former travellers^

We were agreeably surprised by the contrast
between the vegetation of this part of Teneriffe,
and that of the environs of Santa Cruz. Under
the influence of a cool and humid climate, the
ground was covered with beautiful verdure; while
on the road from Santa Cruz to Laguna the plants
' exhibited nothing but pods emptied of their seeds.
Near the port of Santa Cruz, the strength of the
vegetation is an obstacle to geological researches.
We went on foot over two small hills, which rise
in the form of bells. Observations made at Ve-

140

suvius, and in Auvergne, lead us to think^ that
these paps owe their origin to lateral eruptions of
the great volcano. The» hill called Montannita
de la Villa seems indeed to have already emitted
lavas ; and according to the tradition of the Guan-
ches this eruption took place in 1430. Colonel
Franqui assured Borda, that the place is still to
be seen whence the melted matter issued ; and that
the ai^hes, which covered tlie ground adjacent,
were not yet productive*. Wherever the rock
appears, we discovered basaltic amygdaloidf co-
vered with hardened clay:);, which contains rapilliy
or fragments of pumice stone. This last forma-
tion resembles the tufas of Pausilippo, and the
strata of Puzzolana, which I found in the valley
of Quito, at the foot of the Volcano of Pichincha.

* This fact is taken from a manuscript now at Paris, at the
depot of the Charts of the Marine. It bears the title of i{é-
êuiné des Opérations de la Campagne de la Boussole (in 1776)
pour dtterminer les Positions géographiques des Cotes d* Espagne
4* de Portugal iur VOceany d'aune Partie des Cotes occidentales
de l*Jfrique, âf des Iles Canaries, par le Chevalier de Borda.
This is the manuscript of which M. Fleurieu speaks iu the
notes, which he has added to the Voyage of Marchand, vol.
%p, 11, and which M. de Borda had communicated to mt
previous to my departure. As I have extracted some impor.
tant observations from it, which have never been published
I shall cite it in this work under the title of Manuscript du
Depot.

t Basaltartiger mandelstein. Werner. ^.

X Bimsteia-congloaerat. W.

141

The amygdaloid hag very long pores, like the su-
perior strata of the lavas of Vesuvius, arising pro-
bably frona the action of an elastic fluid forcing its
'way throagh the matter in fusion. Notwithstand-
ing these analogies, I must here repeat, that in all
the low region of the Peak of TenerifFe, on the side
of Orotava, I have met with no flow of lavas, no
current, the limits of which were strongly marked*
Torrents and inundations change the surface of
the globe, and when a great number of currents
of lava meet and spread, over a plain, as I have
seen at Vesuvius, in the Atrio del CavaUi^ they
seem to be confounded together, and wear the ap-
pearance of real strata.

The villa de Orotava has a pleasant aspect at
a distance, from the great abundance of waters
which run through the principal streets. The
spring of Agua mansa^ collected in two large re-
servoirs, turns several mills, and is afterward
discharged among the vineyards of the adjacent
hills. The climate is still more refreshing at the

o

villa than at the port of La Cruz, from the in-
fluence of the breeze, which blows strong after ten
in the morning. The water, which has been dis-
solved in the air at a higher temperature, frequent-
ly precipitates itself, and renders the climate very
foggy. The villa is nearly 1 60 toises (S 12 metres)
above the surface of the ocean, consequently 400
toises less than the ground on which Laguna is

142

built ; it is observed also, thA the same kind of
plants flower a month later in this latter place.

Orotava, the ancient Taoro of the Guanches,
is placed on a very steep declivity ; ihe streets
seem deserted ; the houses, solidly built, but of a
gloomy appearance, belong ahnost all to the no-
bility, who are accused of being extremely haugh-
ty, and who jiive themselves the pompous title of
the doze casas (the twelve houses). We passed
along a lofty aqueduct, lined with a great number
of fine ferns ; and visited' several gardens, in which
the fruit trees of the north of Europe are mingled
with orange trees, pomegranate, and date trees.
We were assured, that thèse last were as little
productive here as on the coasts of Cumana. Al-
though we were acquainted, fiom the narratives of
so many travellers, with the dragon-tree of the
garden of Mr. Franqui, we were not the less struck
with its. enormous macrnitude. We were told,
that the trunk of this tree, which is mentioned in
several very ancient documents as marking the
boundaries of a field, was as gigantic in the fif-
teenth century, as it is at the present moment.
Its height appeared to us to be about 50 or 60
feet ; its circumference near the roots is 45 feet.
We could not measure higher, but Sir George
Staunton found, that, 10 feet from the ground, the
diameter of the trunk is still 12 English feet;
which corresponds perfectly with the assertion of
Borda, who found its mean circumference 33 feet

143

8 inches, French measure. The trunk is divided
into a great number of branches, which rise in the .
form of a candelabrum, and are terminated by
tufts of leaves, like the yucca which adorns the
Valley of Mexico. It is this division, which gives
it a very different appearance from that of the
palm tree*.

Among organised beings, this tree is undoubt-
edly, together with the adansonia or baobab of
Senegal, one of the oldest inhabitants of our globe.
The baobabs are of still greater dimensions than
the dragon-tree of Orotava. There are some,
which near the root measure 34 feet in diameter,
though their total height is only from 50 to 60
feet f . But we should observe, that the adansonia,

• I have given, in the Pictuarsque Atlas which accompanies
this narrative, (PL. 58 of the folio Atlas), the figure of the
dragon tree of Franqui, from a sketch made in 1776 by
M. D'Ozonne, at the time of the expedition of Messrs. de
Bord^ an4 Yarela.

i Adanson is surprised, that the baobabs have not been
cited by other travellers. I find, in the collection of Gry-
naeus, that Aloysio Cadamosto speaks of the great age of
those monstrous trees, which he saw in 1504, and of which
he says very truly, " eminentia altHudinis n(tîi quadrat magnita^
diniJ* Cadam. Navig chap. 42. At Senegal, and near
Prâya, in the islands of Cape Vcrd, Messrs. Adanson and
Staunton remarked adansonise, the trunks of which were
from 56 to 6o feei in circumference. Voy. au Senegal, t. 1,
p. 54. The baobab 34 feet in diameter was seen by Mr. Gol-
berry, in the valley of the two Gagnacks. Fragmens d'un
Voy, en Afrique, t. 2, p. 92.

144

like the ochroma, and all tlie plants of tte family
of bombax, grow much more rapidly* than the
draeoena, the vegetation of which is very slow.
That in Mr. Franqui's garden bears still every year
both flowers and fruit. Its aspect feelingly recalls
to mind ^* that eternal youthf of nature," which
is an inexhaustible source of motion and of life.

The dracœna, which is §een only in cultivated
spots in the Canary islands, at Madeira, and Por^
to Santo, ofi'ers a curious phaenomenon with res-
pect to the migration of plants. It has never
been found in a wild state on the continent of
Africa J: the* East Indies is its real country. By

* It is the same with the plane-tree (platanus occiden talis)
which M. Michaux measured at Marietta, on the banks of
the Ohio, and which, at tweii|^ feet from the ground, was
157 feet in diameter (Voy. à l'Ouest des Monts Alleghany,
1804, p. 93). The taxus, chesnut, oak, plane-tree, cupressus
disticha, bombax, mimosa, caesalpinia, hymenea, and dra-
cœna, appear to me to be the plants, which, in 4tûerent cli*
mates, offer specimens of the most extraordinary growth.
An oak, discovered together with some Gallic helmets in
1S09, ia^he turf pits of the department of the Somme, near
the village of Yseux, seven leagues from Abbeville, was about
the same size as the dragon tree of Orotava. . According to
9 memoir by M. TrauUee, the trunk of this oak was 14. feet
in diameter.

f Aristot. de Longit. Vitae, cap. 6, (ed. Casaub. p. 442.).

I-Mr. Schousboe, in his Flora of Morocco (Danske Videns-
hahent'Sehkabs Skrivter, B. v, p. 4) does not even mention it
among the cultivated plants, while he speaks of the cactus,

145

what means has this tree been transplanted to
Teneriffe, where it is no way cornofion ? does its
existence prove, that, at some very distant epoçha,
the Guanehes had connections witii other nations
originally from "Asia ? o

On leaving Orotava, a narrow and stony path-
way led us across a beautiful forest of chesnut
trees, el monte de CastannoSy to a site which is
coveœd with brambles, some species of laurels,
and arborescent heaths-r The trunks of the last
grow to an extraordinary size; and the flowers
with which they are loaded form an agreeable
contrast, during a great part, of the year, with
the hypericum canariense, which is, very abundant
at this height» We stopped to take in our s pro-

the agaVP, and the. yucca. The form of the dragon^tree
is exhibited in several species of the genus dracsenaj at the
Cape -of Good Hope, in China, and in New Zealand; but
in the New World it is replaced by the form of the yucca ;
for the dracaena borealis of Ai ton is a convallaria, of which
it has all the appearance. The astringent juice,, known in
commerce by the name of dragon's blood, is, according to
the inquiries we made on the spot, the produce of several
Amefican plants^ which, do ,not belong to . the same genus»
and of which some are liannes\ At Laguna, toothpicks
steeped .in the juice of the dragon-tree are mad^ in the
nunneries, and are much extolled as highly useful for the
preservation of the gums. . ,*»*

* A general term used for climbing plants in the French
West India islands. Ed,

VOL. T. L

140

rrnoh of water under a solitary firtree. Thîa
station is known in the country by the . name
of Pino del Dornajito ; its height, according to
the barometrical measurement of M. de Borda *
is 522 toises ; and it commands a magnificent
prospect of the sea, and tl^e whole of the nor-
tliem part of tl>e island» Near Pino del Dor-
najito, a little on the right of the pathway, is a
copious spring of water, into which we plunged
the thermometer, which fell to 15*4*^. At a hun-
dred toises distance frona this spring is another
equally limpid. If we admit» that these waters
indicate nearly the mean heat of the place whence
they issue,- we find the absolute elevation of the
station 520 toises, supposing f the mean tem-^

* Manuscrit du Dépôts 7fne cahier 9 p. 15. I calculated the
heights, which I mention in the text, according to* the for*
mula of M. Laplace, and the coefficient of Mr. Ramond^
In the mamiscript, we find ^* ôl6 loises, according to the
tables of De Luc." We must not confound the Pino del
Dornajito with the station of the Pino de la Merienda, cited
by Eden and fathef Feuillée ; and elevated 800 toises above
the level of the Ocean. This last station is between the
Caravela and the Portillo. See the note on the whole o
these measures, at the end of the Journal de Route,

f As a proof, that these objections are founded on accurate
observations, I wiil here observe, that the mean tempchiture
of the low regions of the isle of Madeira, which is a little
to the north of Teneriffe is 20'4® ; and that my observa^
tions, made under the torrid zone, allow for the decrement
of- caloric «98 toisés to each centesimal degree ; while there*
suits taken by M. Eamond, under the teooperate zone; in Uu

147

perature of the coast to be 21^, And allowing one
degree for the decrement of caloric correspond-
ing under this zone to 93 toises. We should
not be surprised, if this spring remained a little
below the heat of the air, since it is probably
formed in some more elevated part of the peak^
and communicates {îerhaps even with the small
subterranean glaciers, of which we shall speak
hereafter. The accordance which we have just
observed between the barometrical and thermo-
metrical measures is so much the more striking^ '
because in general, as I have elsewhere explained*
iii mountainous countries, with steep declivities, the
springs indicate too great a decrement of caloric,
because they unite small currents of water, which
filter at different heights, and their temperature
is consequently the mean between the tempera-
ture of these currents. The spring of Dorna*
jito has considerable reputation in the country;

. titude 45^, give 84 toises. From these extremes it follows,
that the height of the Dornajito is either 548 toises, or 470
toises. M. de Borda, found io 177Ô the temperature of the
air near the spring 5® colder than at the port of Orotava,
which seems to prove, (hat the decrement of 93 toises, which
I have supposed, is not too slow. Phil. Trans» vol. xlvii, p.
358. Ramond, Mém. sur la Formule harom. p. 1.89*

* /fstron. Ohs. vol. i, p. 132. Thus in the Blue Moun-
tains of Jamaica Mr Hunter found springs constantly colder
than they ought to have heen, according to the height at
which they issued.

I. «

us

*

a.fld was the only one. known, at the time of
nay excursion, on. the * road which leads to the
summit of the volcano. The formation of
springs " demands a certain regularity in the di-
rection and inclination of the strata- On a vol-
canic soil, porous and splintered rocks absorb
the rain waters, and lead them to considerable
.depths. Hence arises that aridity observed in
the greater part «of the Canary islands, notwith-
standing the considerable height of their mouH-
toins, . and the mass of clouds which navigators
behold incessantly piled over this archipelago.

From Pino del Dornajito to the crater of the
volcano we continued to ascend without crossing
a single valley; for the small ravines (barancos)
do not merit this name. To the eyes of the
geologist- the whole of the isle of TenerifFe is
-but one monntain, the almost elliptical base of
which is prolonged to the north-east, and in which
we distinguish several systems of volcanic rocks
formed at different epochas. The Chahorra^ or
Mo7itana Color adq, and the C^rc^, considered in
the country as insulated volcanoes, are only lit-
tle hills abutting on the Peak, and marking its
pyramidal form. The great volcano, the lateral
eruptions of which have ;given birth to vast pro-
montories, is not however precisely in the centre
of the island, and this peculiarity of structure
{^Dpegirs less jsurpriaing,' if we recollect, as a learn*

149

ed mineralogist has observed ♦, that it is not
perhaps the small crate;* of the Piton^ which has
^cted the principal part in the revolutions under*
gone by the isle of TenerifFe.

Above the region of arborescent heaths, called
Monte Fe?'de, is the region of the fern3. No
where, under- the temperate zone, have I seen
such an abundance of the pteris, ble'chnum, . and
asplenium ; yet none of these plants have the
stateliness of the arborescent ferns, which at the
height of five or six hundred toises form the prin-
cipal ornament of equinoctial America. The root
of the pteris aquilina serves the inhabitants of
Pal ma and Gomera for food; they grind it to
powder, and mix with it a small quantity of barley-
meal. This composition^.when boiled, is called
go/io ;. the use of so homely an aliment is a proof
of the extreme penury of the lower order of people
in the Canary islands.

Monte Verde is intersected by several small and

very arid ravines (cannadas), and the region of

ferns is succeeded by a wood of juniper trees and

firs, which has suffered greatly from the violence

.of the hurricanes. In this place, mentioned by

some travellers under the «ame of Caravela, Mr.

Edenf asserts that "he saw little flames, which,
-I

* M. Cordier. . , '

t This visit took place in 1715. Phil. Trans, vol. xxix,
p. 317* Carabela is the name of a ve96el with latin sails.

150

according to the doctrine "of the naturalists of his
time,- he attributes to sulphurous exhalations that
take fire of themselves. We continued to ascend,
till we came to the rock of La Gay ta and to
Portillo ; traversing this narrow passage between
two basaltic hills, we entered the great plain of
Spartium*. At the time of the voyage of La
Peyrouse, M. Manneron had taken the levels of
the Peak, from the port of Orotava to this elevated
plain near 1400 tbises above the level of the sea;
but the want of water, and the misconduct of the
guides, had prevented him from taking the levels to
the top of the volcano. The results of this opera-
tion, which was -two thirds finished, unfortunately
were not sent to Europe, and this work is still to
be recommenced from the seacoast.

We spent two hours and a half in crossing the
Llano del Rétama, which appears like an immense
sea of sand. Notwithstanding the elevation of
this site, the centigrade thermometer rose in the
shade, toward sunset, to ï3'8®, or 37* higher
than toward- noon at Monte Verde. This aug-
mentation of heat could be attributed only to the
reverberation from the ground, and the extent of
the plain. We suffered much from the suffocating

The pines of the peak formerly were used as masts of vessels,
and the royal navy cut its wood (cories de maderaj on tbt
Monte Verde.
^ Los Llanos jde] R«tama.

dust of the pumice stonç^ in which ive were con*
tinually ettvelopekl. In the midst of this plain are-
tufts of the rétama^ which is the spartiutn nubige*
num of Aiton. This charming shrub, which M, de
Martiniere *" wished to introduce into Languedoc,
where firewood is very scarce, grows to the height
of nine feet ; it is loaded with odoriferous flowers,
with which the goat hunters, that we met in our
road, had decoVated their hats. * The goats'of the
Peak, which are of a deep brown, are reckoned de-^
licious food ; they browse on the spartium, and
have run wild in the deserts . from time im-
memorial. They have even, been transported, to
Madeira, where they are preferred to the goats
of Europe. h

As far as the rock of G ay ta, or the entrance of
the extensive Llano del Rétama, the Peak of Tene-
riffe is covered with beautiful vegetation : nothing
beara the mark of recent devastation. We mij^t
have* imagined ourselves scaling the side of some
volcano, the fire of which had been extinguished
as remotely as that of Monte Cavo, near Rome ;
but scarcely had we reached thç plain covered
with puD^ice stone, when the landscape changed
its aspect, and at. every step we met with large
blocks of obsidian thrown out by the volcano.
Every thîhg here speaks, perfect solitude. A few

* One of the botanists who perished in the expedition of
La Peyrouse.

152

goats and rabbitç only bound across the plain.
The barren region of the Peak is nine square
leagues ; and as the lower regions viewed from this
point shrink in the prospect, the island appears an
ijpamense heap of torrefied matter, hemmed round
by a scanty border t)f vegetation.

From the region of the spartium. nubigenum
we passed through narrow defiles, and small ravines
hpUowed very anciently by the torrents, first Jo a
more elevated plain (el Mont on de TrigoX then
to the place where we intended to pass the night.
This station, which is more than 1530 toises above
the coast, bears the name of the English Halt
(Estancia de las Irigleses^X no doubt .because
English travellers were those, who formerly visited
the Peak most frequently. Two inclined rocks
forj?» a kind of Cavern, that affords a shelter from
the winds* This point, already highçr . than the
summit of the Canigou, can be reached on the
backs of, mules ; and here ends the expedition oT
>numbers of travellers, who on leaving Orotava

* This denomination was already in use at the beginning
of the last century. Mr. Eden, who corrupts »\\ Spanish
words, as do the greater part of travellers in our own times,
calls it the Stancha: it is the Station des Rochers oï M.. Borda,
as is proved by the barometrical heights there observed*
These heights were in 1803, according to M. Cordier,
19 inches 9*5 lines ; and in 1776, according to Messi*s. Borda
and Varela, 19 inches 9*8 lines ; the barometer at Orotava
keeping within nearly a line at the same height»

153

had hoped to have ascended to the brink of the
crater. Though in the midst of summer, and
under the bright sky of Africa, we suffered from
tlie cold diirincr the ni^ht. The thermometer
descended as low as to five degrees. Our guides
made a large fire with the dry branches of rétama.
Having neither tents nor cloaks, Ve lay down on
a heap of burnt rocks, and were singularly incom-
moded by the flame and smoke, which the wind
drove towards us. We had attempted to form a
kind of screen with cloths tied together, but our
enclosure took fire, which we did not perceive, till
the greater part had been consumed by the flames.
We had never passed a night on a point so elevated,
and did not then conjecture, that on the ridge of
the Cordilleras we should one day inhabit towns
higher than the summit of the volcano we were to
scale on the morrwv. As the temperature di-
minished, the • Peak became covered w ilh thick
clouds. The approach of night interrupts the
play of the ascending current, which, during the
day, rises from the plains towards the high regions
of the atmosphere; and the air, in cooling, loses
its capacity of suspending» water. A strong
northerly wind chased the clouds; the moon at
intervals, shooting across the vapors, exposed its
disk 6n a firmament of the darkest^ blue ; and the
view of the volcano threw a majestic character over
the nocturnal scenery. Sometimes the Peak was

154

entirely hidden from our eyes by tlie fog, at others,
it broke upon us in terrific nearness ; and^ like an
enormous pyramid, threw its shadow over the
clouds rolling beneath our teet.

Towards three in the morning, by the sombrous
light of a few fir torches, we began our expedition
for the summit of the Piton. We scaled the
volcano on the north east, where the declivities are
extremely steep; and we came, after two hours
toil, to a small plain, which, on account of its
bolated situation, bears the name of Alta Vista.
It is the station also of the neveros^ those natives,
whose occupation it is to collect ice and snow,
which they sell in the neighbouring towns. Their
mules, better practised in climbing mountains than
those hired by trs^vellers, reach Alta Vista^ and
the neceros are obliged to transport the snow to
this place on their backs. Above this point the
Malpays begins, a term by which is designated
here, as well as in Mexico, Peru, and every other
country subject to volcanoes, a grQund destitute
of vegetable mould, and cov,ered with fragments
of lavas.

We turned towards the right to examine the
Cavern of Ice, which is at 1728 toises, <:onse-
quently below the limit of the perennial snows
under this zone. It is probable, that the cold
which reigns in this cavern is owing to the same
causQ3, which perpetuate the ice in the crevices of

■»^

155

Mount Jura, and tlie Apennines, and on which the
opinions of naturalists are still much divided*.
This natural ice-house of the Peak has nevertheless
none of those perpendicular openings, which give
emission to the warm air, while the cold air re-
mains undisturbed at the bottom: It seems that
the ice is preserved in it on account of it$ mass, and
because its melting is retarded by the cold, which
is the consequence of quick evaporation. This
small subterraneous glacier is situate in a region,
the mean temperature of which is probably nof
qnder three durées ; and it is not, like the true
glaciers of the Alps, fed by the snow waters that
flow from the summits of the mountains. During
winter, the cavern is filled with ice and snow ; and
as the rays «pf the sun do not penetrate beyond the
mouth, the heats of summer are not sufficient
to empty the reservoir. The existence of a natural
ice house depends, consequently, rather on the
quantity of snow which enters it in winter, and the
small influence of the warm winds that blow in

* Saussore, Voyage dans les Alpes, §. 1406—1414.
Prévost, da Calorique rayonnant, p* 409 — 422. In tht
greater part of tbe cellars of icc^ for instance that of St*
George, between Niort and Rolle, a tbin layer of limpid ice
forms itself in summer on the walls of tbe calcareous rock*
Mr. Pictet observed, that at tbis epotba the thermometer
does not descend, in the air of the cellar, below two or three
degrees, âo that we must attribute the congelation to a local
and very rapid evaporation.

156

sumtner> than on the absôlut€ elevation of the
cavity,, and the mean temperature of the layer of
air in which it is situate. The air contained in the
bowels of a mountain is not easily displaced, as is
proved by Monte-Testaceo,,at Rome, the temper-
ature of which is so different from that of the sur-
rounding atmosphere. We shall see in the course
of this work, that on Chimborazo enormous heaps
of ice are found covered with sand, and, in the
same manner as at the Peak, far below the inferior
limit of the perpetual snows.

It. was near the Cellar of Ice (Cueoa del Hkh)^
that, in the voyage of La Péyrouse, Messrs. Lama-
non and Mongès made their experiments on the
temperature of boiling water. These naturalists
found it 8«'7*^, the barometer beingt^t nineteen
inches one line. In the kingdom of New Grenada,
at the chapel of Guadaloupe, near SantaFe de
Bogota, I have seen water boil at 89 '9^, under a
pressure of 19 inches Y^ lines. At Tan^bores,
in the province of Popayan, Mr. Caldas found the
heat of boiling water 89'^^, the barometer being
at 1 8 inches' 1 1 '6 lines. These results might lead
us to suspect, that, in the experiment of M. Lama-
non, the Mater had not reached the maximum of
its temperature *.

The dawn appeared when we left the cavern of

* A calculation, made according to the tables of Mr.
Dalton, gives 89*4^ for La Cueva, and Sgô^ for Guadaloupe.

157

/

ice. Wc observed, during the twilight, a phasno-
inenon which is not unusual on high mountains,
but which the position of the volcano, that we
were scaling, rendered very striking. A layer of
white and fleecy oloiids concealed from us the
sight of the ocean, and the lower region of the
island. This layer did not appear above 800
toises high ; the clouds were so uniformly spread,
and kept so perfect a level, that they wore the
appearance of* a vast 'plain- covered with snow.
The colossal pyramid of the Peak, the volcanic
sumniits of Lanzerota, of Fortavontura, and tfie
isle of Palma, were like rocks amidst this vast sea
of vapors, and their black tints were in fine con^
tfast with the whiteness of the clouds.

While we were climbing over the broken lavas
of the Malpays, we perceived a very curious op-
tical phaenoinehon, w^hich lasted eight minutes.
We thought we saw on tiie east side small rockets
thrown into the air. Luminous fpoihts, about
seven or eight degrees above the horizon, appear-
ed first to move in à vertical direction ; but their
motion was gradually changed into a real hori-
zontal oscillation. Our fellow travellers, our
guides even, were astonished at this phaenomenon,
without our having made any remark on it to
them. We thought at first sight, that these lu-
minous points, which floated in the air, indicated
some new eruption of the great volcano, of Lan^
zerota. We recollected, that Bouguer and La Con -

158

daninc, in scaling the volcano of Pichincha, were
witnesses of the eruption of Cotopaxi*; but the
illusion soon ceased, and we found, that the lumi-
nous points were the images of several stars mag-
nified by the vapors. These images remained mo-
tionless at intervals, they then seemed to rise per-
pendicularly, descended sideways, and returned to
the point whence they had departed. This mo-
tion lasted one or two seconds. Though we had
no exact means of measuring the greatness of the
lateral shifting, we did not less distinctly observe
the path of the luminous point. It<iid not appear
double from an effect •of looming (mirage), and
left no trace of light behind. Brioging, with the
telescope of à small sextant by Troughton, the
stars into contact with the lofty summit of a moun-
tain in Lanzerota, I observed, that the oôcillation
was constantly directed towards the same point,
that is to say, towards the part of the horizon
where the disk of the sun was to appear; and
that, making allowance for the motion of the star
in its declination, the image returned alwaya to tlie
same place. These appearances of lateral re-
fraction ceased long before daylight had ren-
dered, the stars quite invisible. 1 have faithfully
related what we saw during the twilight, without
undertaking to explain this extraordinary phseno-
ménon, of which I published an account in Baroti
Zach's Astronomical Jomrnal, twelve years ago.
The motion of the vesicular vapors, caused by the

159

rising of the sun ; the mingling of several layers of
air, the temperature and density of which were
very different, no doubt contributed to produce
an apparent movement of the stars in the horizon-
tal direction. We see something similar in the
strong undulations of the solar disk, when it cuts
the horizon ; but these undulations seldom exceed
twenty seconds, while the lateral motion of the
stars, observed at the Peak, at more than 1800
toises, was easily distinguished by the sight alone,
and seemed to exceed all that we have thought it
possible to consider hitherto as the effect of the
refraction of the light of the stars. On the top
of the Andes, at Antisana, I was present at sutx-
rise, and passed the whole night at 2100 toises»
without noting any appearance resembling this
phœnomenon.

I was anxious to make an exact observation of
the uistant of sunrising at an elevation so conside-
rable as that we had reached on the Peak of Tene^
riffe. No traveller, furnished with instruments,
had as yet taken such an observation» I had a te-
lescope, and a chronometer, of which I knew tlie
great exactness. In the part where the suti was
to appear, the horizon was free from vapors. We
perceived the upper limb at 4*' 48^ 55" apparent
time, and what is very remarkable, the first lumi-
nous point of the disk was found immediately in
contact with the limit of the horizon ; consequent-
ly we saw the true horizon, that is to say, a part

160

of the sea farther than 43 leagues. It is proved
by calculation, that, under the same parallel in the
plain, the rising would have begun at 5 1 ' 50*4"
or 1 r 5 i '2f' later than at the height of the Peak.
The difference observed was 12' 55", which arose
DO doubt from the uncertaiuty of the refraction
for a zenith distance, of which observations are
wanting*.

We were surprised at the extreme slowness,
with which the lower limb of the sun seemed to
detach itself from the horizon. This limb was not
visible till 4** S&* 56". The disk of the sun» much
flattened, was well defined; during the ascent,
there was neither double ima^e nor lengthening
of the lower part» The duration^ of ^ the sun's

* In this calculation we have supposed, that, for an appa^
rent zenith distance of 91° 64', there are bl^ 7'^^'X)f're-
firaction, Tlie rising sun appears sooner at the Peak of Te*
nerifife than in the plain by the time that it takes to pasa
through an arc of 1° 54'. The greatness of the arc is aug-
mented only 41' far the summit of Chimborazo. The an-
cients had such exaggerated ideas of the acceleration of the
rising of the sun on the top of high mountains, that they ad-^
mitted, that this luminary was visible on Mount Athos three
hours sooner than on the coast of the Egean sea (Strabo edit,
AhndoteUy lib. 7, p. 510) : y«t Mount Athos, accordii»g to
M.-Delambre, is only 713 toises high (Choiseul Govffier^ Vot/.
piti. de la Grèce,, t, ^ J p. I4,(k)

+ The apparent duration, was 8' 1^"^ instead of 2'41^C
Though my journals contain near eighty observations of the
rising and setting of the suii, made either during the voyage,

rising being triple that which we might hav6 et,^
pected in this latitude, we must suppose, that d
fog bank, very uniformly extended, concealed the
true horizon, and followed the sun in its ascents
Notwithstanding the libration of the stars*, which
we had observed toward the east, we could not
attribute the slowness of the rising to an extraor-
dinary refraction of the rays occ£|.sioned by ttie
horizon of the sea ; for it is precisely at the rising
of the sun, as Le Gentil daily observed at Pondi-
cherrVt and as I have several times remarked at
Cumana, that the horizon sinks, on account of
the elevation of temperature in the stratum of the
air-f which lies immediately over the surface of the
ocean.

The road, which we were obliged to find across
the Malpays, was extremely fatiguing. The ascent
is steep, and the blocks of lava rolled from beneath
our feet. I can compare this part of the road

or on the coasts, I have never perceived any sensible retard^
ation.

* A celebrated astronomer, Baron Zach, (Man. Correii
1 SOO, p. 396) has compared this pbaenomenon ef an apparent
libration of the stars to that described in the Georgics (lib. 1,
V. 365). But this passage relates only to the falling start,
ixrhich the ancients, as well as our mariners, considered as a
prognostic of wind. 'Phe Latin poet appears to have imi-
tated the verses of Aratus. (Diosem. v. 926, edit. Buhie 1,
p. 200, Ltâiret. II, v. 143.)

t Biotf Rech, sur Us Rêfractiont extraordinaires^ p, 31^, 22S,
and 228.

VOL. 1. M

1^2

only to the Moraine of the Alps, or that mass of
pebbly stones, which we find at the lower extre-
mity of the glaciers ; at the Peak, the lava, broken
into sharp pieces, leaves liollows, in which we
risked falling up to our waists. Unfortunately the
laziness of our guides contributed to render this
ascent more painful* Unlike those of the valley of
Chamouni, or the nimble footed Guanches, who
could, it is asserted, seize the rabbit or wild goat
in its course, our Canarian guides were models of
the phlegmatic : they wished to persuade us the
preceding evening, not to go beyond the station
of the rocks : every ten minutes they sat down to
repose themselves, and when unobserved threw
away the specimens of obsidian and pumice-
stone, M'hich we had carefully collected. We
discovered at length, that none of them had ever
yet visited the summit of the volcano.

After three hours march, we reached, at the
extremity of the Malpays, a small plain, called
la Rambleta, from the centre of which the Piton,
or Sugar-loaf,, takes its rise. On the side toward
Orotava the mountain resembles those pyramids
with steps, that are found at Fayoum and in
Mexico ; for the elevated plains of Rétama and
Hambleta form two stages, the first of which is
four times higher than the second. If we suppose
the total height of the Peak to be 1^04 toises, the
Ran^leta is 18S0 toises above the level of the sea.
Here are found those spiracles, which are called

163

by the natives the Nostrils of the Peak *• Watery
and heated vapors issue at intervals from several
crevices in the ground, and the thermometer rose
to 43*2o : M. Labillardiere had found the tem-
perature of these vapors, eight years before ua,
53*7® ; a difference which does not perhaps prove
so mucli a diminution of activity in the volcano,
as a local change in the heating of its internal sur-
face. The vapors have no smell, and seem to
be pure water. A short time before the great
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 1805, M. Gay-
Lussac and myself had observed, that water,
under the form of vapor, in the interior of the
crater, did not redden paper dipped in sirup of
violets. I cannot, however, admit the bold hy-
pothesis of several naturalists, according to which
the Nostrils of the Peak are to be considered as
the mouths of an immense apparatus of distilla-
tion, the lower part of which is placed below the
level of the ocean. Since the time that volcanoes
have been carefully studied, and that the love of
the marvellous has been less observed in works on
geology, very well founded doubts have been raised
respecting these direct and constant communica-
tions between the waters of the sea, and the focus
of the volcanic fire f- We may find a very simple

* Narices del Pico,
f This question has been examined with nauch sagacity by
Mr. Breislak, in his Introduzzione alia Geologia, t. 2, p. 302,
3^, 347. Cotopaxi and Popocatepetl, which 1 have seen

M 2

164

explanation of a phasnomenon, that has in it rto--
thing very surprising. The Peak is covered with
snow during part of the year ; we ourselves found
it still so in the plain of Rambleta. Messrs,
O'Donnel and Armstrong discovered in 1805 a
very abundant spring in the Malpays, a hundred
toises above the cavern of ice, which is perhaps
fed partly by this spring. Every thing, conse-
quently, leads us to presume, that the Peak of
TenerifFe, like the volcanoes of the Andes, and
those of the island of Manilla, contains within
itself great cavities^ w^hich are filled with atmos-
pherical water, owing merely to filtration. The
aqueous vapors, which are exhaled by the nos-
trils and crevices of the crater, ^are only those
same waters heated by the interior surfaces down
which they flow.

We had yet to scale the steepest part of the
mountain, the Piton, which forms the summit.
The slope of this small cone, covered with volca-
nic ashes, and fragments of pumice stone, is so
steep, that it would have been almost impossible
to reach the top, had we not ascended by an old

ejecting smoke and ashes, in 1804, are farther from the
South Sea and the Gulf of the Antilles, than Grenoble is
from tlie Mediterranean, and Orleans from the Atlantic. We
must not consider the fact as merely accidental, that we have
not yet discovered an active volcano more than 40 leaguels
distant from the ocean ; but I consider thi hypothesis, that
the waters of the sea are absorbed, distilled, and decompose
by volcanoes,. as very iloubtful.

165

current of lava, tlie wrecks of ^vliich have resisted
the ravatres of time. These wrecks form a wall
of scorious rocks, which stretches itself into the
midst of the loose ashes. We ascended the Piton
by grasping these half decomposed scorite, the
sharp edges of w hich remained often in our hands.
We employed nearly half an hour to scale .a hill,
the perpendicular height of which is scarcely
ninety toises. Vesuvius *, three times lower than

♦ According to the barometrial measurements, which Mr.
Leopold von Buch, M. Gay-Lussac, and myself, took in 1805,
the height of Vesuvius is diminished on the south-west side
since the year 179"^, where a part of the cone fell in, two
days after the ashes had been ejected. Saussure found Vesu-
vius, in 1773, 609 toises high, at a time when the brinks of
the whole of the crater were nearly of the same height. Sir
George Shuckburgh measured, in 177^, a hill placed in the
midst of the crater; it was 615 toises in height. This hill
scarcely existed at the time of Saussure's journey, and dis-
appeared in the eruption of 1779. It was the éruption of
i79i, which caused the great inequality of the two brinks of
the crater; this unevenness was 71 toises in 1805. Mr.
Poli found Vesuvius, a short time before, 606 toises in height.
Sir G. Shuckburgh reckoned the higliest point of the Somma,
called del VitcIlOf 584 toises. This observation is not very
accordant with the height, which M. Gay-Lussac assigns to
the highest brink of the crater; for, in 1805, this part of
the brink seemed to have the same elevation as the Punta del
Vitello, I know not where Shuckburgh placed his instru-^
ment at the foot of the cone of ashes ; for he states this point
at only 3l6 toises of absolute height. The following is a
table of the measures mad» in very calm weather, wit}i a
portable cistern barometer by Ramsden.

166

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167

ashes almost three times higher, but with a more
accessible and easy slope. Of all the volcanoes
which I have visited, that of Jorullo, in Mexico,
is the only one, that is more difficult to climb than
the Peak, because the whole mountain is covered
with loose ashes.

When the Sugar loaf (el Piton) is covered with
snow, as it is in the beginning of winter, the
steepness of its declivity may be very dangerous
to the traveller. M. Le Gros showed us the
place, where Captain Baudin had nearly perished^
at the time of his voyage to the isle of Trinidad.
This officer had the courage to undertake, in com-
pany with the naturalists Advenier, Mauger, and
Riedlé, an excursion to the top of the volcano to-
wards the end of December, 1797. Having
reached half the height of the cone, he had a
fall, and rolled down as far as the small plain of
Rambleta ; happily a heap of lava, covered v«th
snow, hindered him from rolling farther with ac-

M. de la Jumellère asserts, in a paper printed in the Mo-
niteur, that he found, by geometrical measurement, the
height of Vesuvius 5^7 toises. It were to be wished,' that he
had published the detail of his operations. Our measurements
give 6o6 toiws (1 181 metres) for the most elevated brink of
the crater; 53Ô toises (1042 metres) for the lower brink;
370 toises (721 metres) for the foot of the cone of ashes ;
, and 302 toises (5S8 metres) for the hermitage of San Salva-
dor. Such was the state of Vesuvius a short time before the
eruption in the year 1805, in which the lava made a breach
in the brink of the crattr on the side of Torre del GrecQ,

168

eelerated velocity. I have been told, that in Swit-
zerland a traveller was suffocated by rolling down

the declivity of the ('ol de Balme, over the com-

«

pact turf of the Alps.

When we gained the summit of the Piton, we
were surprised to find scarcely room enough to
seat ourselves conveniently. We were stopped by
a small circular wall of porphyritic lava, with base
of. pitchstone, which concealed from us the view
of the crater*. The west wind blew with such
violence that we could scarcely stand. It was
leight in the çaoming, and we were frozen with
the cold, though the thermometer kept a little
above the freezing point. For a long time we
had been accustomed to a very high temperature,
and the dry wind increased the feeling of cold,
because it carried off every moment the small at-
mosphere of warm and humid air, which was
formed around us froni the effiect of cutaneous
perspiration.

The brink of the crater of the Peak bears no
resemblance to those of the greater part of the
other volcanoes which I have visited : for instance,
jthe craters of Vesuvius, Jorullo, and Pichincha.
In these the Piton preserves its conic figure tp
the very summit : the whole of their declivity is
inclined thç same number of degrees, and uni-

* fja Caldera, or the caldron of the Peak, a denomination
which lecals to mind the* Ouks of the Pyrenees. Ramond,
Voy. au Mopt-Eerdu, p. 235.

169

formly covered with a layer of pnnaîce stone very
minutely divided ; when we reach the top of
these volcanoes, nothing obstructs the view of the
bottom of the crater. The Peak of TenerifFe,
apd Cotopaxi, on the contrary, are of very dif-
ferent construction. iVt their summit a circular
w all surrounds the crater ; which wall, at a distance,
has the appearance of a small cylinder placed on
a truncated cone. On Cotopaxi* this peculiar
construction is visible to the naked eye at more
than 2000 tbises distance; and no person has
ever readied the crstter of this volcano. On the
Peak of Teneritfe, tlie wall, which surrounds the
crater like a parapet, is so high, that it would be
impossible to reach tlie Caldera, if on the east-
ern side there was not a breach, which seems to
have been the effect of a flowing of very old lava.
We descended through this breach toward the
bottom of the funnel, the figure of which is
elliptic. Its greater axis has a direction from
north-west to south-east, nearly "N. 35® W. The
greatest breadth of the mouth appeared to us to
be 300 feet, the smallest 200 feet. These num-
bers agree very nearly with the measures of
Messrs. Verguin, Varela, and Borda f , for thes«
travellers assign 40 and 30 toises to the two axesj.

* Picturesque Atlas, folio, pi. 10.
+ Voy. dc la Flore, t. i, p. -94». Manusc, du Dépôt de la
Marine, cah, 7, p. 15. Voy. de Marchand, t. ii, p. II,
X M . Cordier, who visited the top of the Ptak four years

iro

It is easy tp conceive, that the size of a era»
ter does not depend solely on the height and mass
of the mountain, of which it forms the principal
air vent. This opening is indeed seldom in di-
rect ratio with the intensity of the volcanic
fire, or with the activity of the volcano. At
Vesuvius, which is but a hill compared with the
Peak of TenerifFe, the diameter of the crater is
five times greater. When we reflect, that very
lofty volcanoes throw out less matter by their
summits, than by lateral openings, we should be
led to think, that the lower the volcanoes are,
their force and activity being the same, the more
considerable ought to be their craters. In fact,
there are immense volcanoes in the Andes, wliich
have but very small openings ; and we might
establish it as a geological principle, that the
most colossal mountains have craters of little ex-
tent at the summits, if the Cordilleras did not
oflfer many instances* to the contrary. I shall
have occasion, ill the progress of this work, to
cite a number of facts, which will throw some
light on what may be called the external struc-
ture of volcanoes. This structure is as varied

after me, estimates the greater axis at 66 toises (Journ. de
Phys. t !vii, p. 62). Lanianon thinks it 50 toises. But
jNIr, O' Donne! juives the crater a circumference of 236 tivises
(550 varas),

* The great volcanoes of Cotopaxi and Rucupichincha
have craters, the diameter of which, according to my mea-
surements, ex'ceed 400 and 700 toit es.

171

as the volcanic phrenomena themselves ; and in
order to raise ourselves to geological conceptions
worthy of the greatness of nature, we must set
aside the idea, that all volcanoes are formed
after the model of Vesuvius, Stromboli, and
Etna,

The external edges of the Caldera are almost
perpendicular. Their appearance is somewliat
like the Somma, seen from the Atrio del Cavallo.
We descended to the bottom of the crater on a
train of broken lava, from the eastern breach of
the enclosure. The lieat was peixeptible only
in a few crevices, which gave vent to aqueous
vapours with a peculiar buzzing noise. Some of
these funnels or trrevices are on the outside of
the enclosure, on the external brink of the para*
pet that surrounds the crater. We plunged the
thermometer into them, and saw it rise rapidly
to 68 and 75 degrees. It no doubt indicated
a higher temperature, but we could not observe
the instrument till we had drawn it up,, lest we
should burn our hands. M. Cordier found seve-
ral crevices, the heat of which was that of boil-
in/aj water. It might be thought, that these va-
pours^ which are emitted in gusts, contain muria-
tic or sulphurous acid ; but when condensed, they
have no particular* taste ; and experiments, which
several natiwralists * have made with reagents,

* Voyage de La Perouse, t. iii^ p. 2.

172

prove, that the chimneys of thé Peak exhale only
pure water. This phenomenon, analogous to
what 1 observed in the crater of JoruUo, de-
serves the more attention, as muriatic acid
abounds in the greater part of volcanoes, and
as M. Vauquelin has discovered it even in the
porphyritic lavas of Sarcouy in Auvergne.

I sketched on the spot a view * of the interior
edge of the crater, as it presented itself in the
descent by the eastern break. Nothing is more
striking than the manner, in which these strata
of lavas are piled on one another, exhibiting the
sinuosities of the calcareous rock of the higher
Alps. These enormous ledges, sometimes hori-
zontal, at others inclined and undulating, remind
us of the ancient fluidity of tlie whole mass, and
the combination of several deranging causes, which
determmed the direction of each flow. The top of
the circular wall exhibits those grotesque ramifica^
tions, which we find in coak. The northern edse
is more elevated ; towards the south-west, the
enclosure is considerably sunk, and an enormous
mass of scorious lava seems glued to the extremity
of the brink. On the west the rock is perforated ;
and a large opening gives a view of the horizon of
the sea. .'J he force of the elastic vapours formed
perhaps this natural aperture, at the moment of
some inundation of lava thrown out from thç
crater.

^ Picturesque Atlas, folio, PI, 54,

173

The inside of this funnel indicates a volcano,
which for thousands of years has vomited no fire
but by its sides. This assertion is not founded on
the absence of great openings, v^hich migJit be ex-
pected in the bottom of the Caldera. Those
naturalists, who have studied nature on the spot,
know, that several volcanoes, in the intervals of an
eruption, appear filled up, and almost extin-
guished ; but that in these same mountains, the
crater of the volcano exhibits layers of scoriae,
rough, sonorous, and shining; with hillocks and
intumescences, caused by the action of the elastic
vapours, cones of broken scoriae, and ashes, which
cover the funnels. None of these phaenomena
characterise the crater of the Peak of Teneriffe ;
its bottom has not remained in the state which
follows the end of an eruption* From the lapse of
time, and the action of the vapors, the inside walls
are detached, and have covered the basin with
great blocks of lithoid lavas.

We reached the bottom of the Caldera without
danger. In a volcano, the activity of which is
principally directed towards the summit, such as .
Vesuvius, the depth of the crater varies before* and
after each eruption ; but at the Peak of Teneriffe
the depth appears to have remained the same for
a long time. Eden, in 1715, estimated it at 115
feet ; Cordier, in 1 803, at 110- feet. Judging
by mere inspection, I should have thought the
funnel of still less depthr Its present state is that

174

of a solfatara ; and it is rather an object of curious
investigation, than of tremendous aspect. The
majesty of the site consists in its elevation above
the level of the ocean, in the profound solitude
of these lofty regions, and the immense space over
which the eye ranges from the summit of the
mountain.

The wall of compact lava, which forms the en-
closure of the Caldera, is snow white at its surface.
The same colour prevails in the inside of the
solfatara of Puzzuoli. When we break these lavas,
which might be taken at some distance for cal-
careous stone, we find in them a blackish brown
nucleus. Porphry with basis of pitch stone is
whitened externally by the slow action of the
vapors of sulphurous acid gas. These vapors
rise in abundance; and, what is remarkable enough,
through crevices which seem to have no communi-
cation with the apertures that emit aqueous vapors.
We may be convinced of the presence of the sul-
phurous acid, by examining the fine crystals of
sulphur, which are every where found in the
crevices of the lava. This acid, combined with
the water with which the soil is hnpregnated, is
transformed into sulphuric acid by contact with
the oxygen of the atmosphere. In general, the
humidity in the crater of the Peak is more to be
feared than the heat; and they who seat thena-
telves for a while on the ground find their clothes
cofroded. The porphyritic lavas are affected by

175

the action of the sulphuric acid : the alumin, mag-
nesia; soda, and metallic oxids, gradually disap-
pear; and often nothing remains but the silex,
which unites in mammillary plates, like opal.
These siliceous concretions*, which M. Gordier
first made known, are similar to those found in the
Isle of Ischia, in the extinguished volcanoes of
Santa Fiora, and in the Solfatara of Puzzuoli f . It
is not easy to form an idea of the origin of these
incrustations. The aqueous vapours, discharged
through great spiracles, do not contain alkali in
solution, like the waters of the Geyser, in Iceland t.
Perhaps the soda contained in the lavas of the
Peak acts an important part in the formation of
these depositions of silex. There may exist in the
crater small crevices, the vapors of which are not
of the same nature as those on which travellers,
employed at the same moment in a great number
of objects, have made experiments.

Seated on the northern brink of the crater, I
dug a hole of some inches depth ; the thermometer
placed in this hole rose rapidly to 42^. Hence

* Opalartiger kiesehinter. The siliceous gurh of the
volcanoes of the Isle of Trance contains, according to Klaproth,
0*72 silex, and O'Sl water; and thus comes near to opal,
which Karstcu considers as a hydrated silex. Miner, Tabcllen^
1800, p. 70.

t Breislak, Introduzzione alia Geologia, t» % p. 238.

X Black, in Philos. Transact. 1794, p. 24.

176

we may conclude what must be the heat, that
reigns in this solfatara at the depth of thirty or
forty fathoms. The sulphur reduced into vapour
is condensed intç fine crystals, which however are
not equal in size to those M. Dolomieu broilght
from Sicily'*. They are semidiaphanous octae-
dronsy with very brilliant surfaces, and of a con-
choidal fracture. These masses, which will one
day perhaps be objects of commerce, are constantly
bedewed with sulphurous acid. I had the impru-
dence to wrap up a few, in order to preserve them,
but I soon discovered, that the acid had consumed
not only the paper which contained them, but a
part also of my mineralogical journal. The heat
of the vapors, which issue from the crevices of the
Caldera, is not sufficiently great, to combine the
sulphur, while in a state of minute division, with
the oxygen of the atmospheric air ; and after tlie
experiment which I have just cited on the temper-
ature of the soil, we may presume, that the sulphur-
ous acid is formed at a certain depth f, in cavities
to which the external air has free access.

* These crystals were four or five inches in length. Dree,
Cat. d'un Musée minéral, p. 21.

t An observer, in general very exact, Mr. Breislack, asserts
(Geologia, t. % p. 232), that the muriatic acid always pre.
ëominates in the vapours of Vesuvius. This assertion is con-
trary to what M. Gay-Lussac and myself observed, before the
great eruption of 1805, and while the lava was issuing

The vapors of heated water, which act on the
fragments of lava scattered dbout on the Caldera,
reduce certain parts of it to a state of paste. On
examining, after I had reached America, those
earthy and friable masses, I found crystals of
sulphat of alumin. Messrs. Davy and Gay-
Lussac* have already made the ingenious rem"ark>
that two bodies highly inflammable, the metals of
soda and potash, have probably an important part in
the action of a volcano ; now the potash necessary
to the formation of alum is found not only in
feldspar, mica, pumice stone, and augit, but also
in obsidians f . This last substance is very common
at TénerifFe, where it forma the basis of the teph-
rinic lavaj. These analogies between the Peak
of TenerifFe and the Solfatara of Puzzuoli, would
no doiibt appear more numerous, if the former
were more accessible, and had been frçquently
visited bjp^naturalists.

An expedition to the satnnilt of the volcano of

from tj^e craUr. The smell of the sulphorous acid, so
easy to distinguish, was perceptible at a great distance ; and
when the volcano threw out scoriae» the smell was mingled
with that of petroleum.

* Davy, on the Decomposition of fix^d Alkalies, PhiU
Trans. 180S, P. 1, p. 44.

f Collet Descotils, in the Ann. de Chimie, t.- 53$ p. 260.

■

See Klaprotb, Beitrage, B. 5, p. 159, l62» and 166.

X Laméthiere, Minéralogie, t. t, p. 53$/^ and Journal de
Physique, 1806, p. 192;

VOL. I. N

180

pîerced in several places by the effect of the small
currents of air, which the earth, heated by the sun,
began ta send towards us. The port of Orotava,
its vessels at anchor, the gardens and the, vineyards
which encircle the town, exhibited themselves
through an opening which seemed to enlarge every
instant. From the summit of these solitary regions
our eyes hovered over an inhabited world; we en-
joyed the strikiujg contrast between the bare sides of
the Peak, its steep declivities covered with scoriae;,
its elevated plains destitute of vegetation, and the
smiling aspect of the cultured country beneath;
we beheld the plants divided by zones, as the
temperature of the atmosphere diminished with the
height of the site. Below the Piton, lichens begin
to cover the scorious lava with lustered surface.: a
violet *, akin to the viola decumbens, rises on the
slope of the volcano at 1 740 toises of height ; it
takes the lead nob only of the other herbaceous
plants, but even oi the gramina, which, in the
41ps and on the ridge of the Cordilleras, form
close neighbourhood with the plants of the faniily
of cryptogamia. Tufts of rétama, loaded with
flowers, make gay the vailles hollowed out by the
torrents, and which a/e encumbered with the
effects of the' lateral eruptions; below.the spartium,
or rétama, lies the region of ferns, bordered by the

*^ Viola çheiraulhifolia. See our equinoctial plants, vol, i,
p. Ill, PL 32. ' '

IS]

tract of the aborescent heaths. Forests of laur^?!,
rbamnus, and arbutus divide the ericas fiom the
rising grounds planted with vines and fruit- trees.
A rich carpet of verdure extends from the plain of
spartium, and the zone of the alpine plants even
to the group of fhe diate trees and the musa, at the
feet of which the ocean appears to roll. I herb
pass slightly over the principal features of this
botanical chart, as I shall enter hereafter into
some farther details respecting the geography of
the plants of the Isle of TenerifFe.

The seeming proximity, in w^hich, from the
summit of the Peak, we behold the hamlets, the
vineyards, and gardens 'on the coast, is increase4
by the prodigious transparency of the atmosphere.
Notwithstanding the great distance, >^e distin-
guished not only the houses, the sails of the vessels,
and the trunks of trees, our eyes dwelt on the rich
vegetation -of the plains, enamelled with the most
vivid colouring. These phaènomena are owing not
only to the height of the site, but to the peculiar
modifications of the air in warm climates.i Under
every zone^ an object placed on a level with the
sea, and viewed in a horizontal direction, appears
less luminous, than when seen from the top of a
mountain, where vapors arrive across strata of air
of decreasing density. Differences equally striking
are produced by the influence of climates ; the sur-,
face of a lake or large river is less resplendent,
when we see it at an equal distance, from the top

of thè bîgher Alps of Switzerland, than when we
view it from the summit of the Cordilleras of Peru
or Mexico. In proportion as the air is pure and
serene, the solution of the vapours becomes more
perfect, and the light loses less in. its passage.
When from the coast of the South Sea we reach the
devated plain of Quito, or that of Antisana, we are
Struck for some days at the nearness at which we
think we see objects which are seven or eight
leagues distant. The Peak of Teyde has not the
^dvantge of being >situate in the equinoctial region ;
but the dryness of. the columns of air which rise
perpetually above the neighbouring plains of
Africa, and which the eastern winds bring with
fapidity, gives the atmosphere of the Canary
Islands a transparency, which surpasses not only
that of the air of Naplies and Sicily, but perhaps
also .the purity of the sky of Quito and Peru.
This transparency may be regarded as one of the
chief causes of the beauty of the landscape under
the torrid zone; it is this which heightens the
splendor of the vegetable coloring, and contributes
^o the magical effect of their harmonies and their
contrasts. If a mass of lic^ht, which circulates about
objects,, fatigues the external senses during a part
of the dav, the inhabitant of the southern climates
Ijas his compensations in moral enjoyments. A
lucid clearness, in the conceptions, a serenity of
pïind, correspond with - the transparency of the
surrounding- atmosphere. We feei these impres-

183

sîons whhont t)verstej>pittg the limits of Europe.
I appeal to traveUfsrs who have visifed countries
rendered famous by prodigies of the imagination
and the arts, the favored climates of Italy and
Greece.

We prolonged in vain our stay on the summit
of the Peak, to wait the' moment when we might
enjoy the view of the .whole of the Archipelago of
the Fortunate islands *. We discovered Palma,
Gomera, and the Great Canary, at our feet. . The
,nu)untkins of Lanzerota, free from vapors at sun*
rise, were soon enveloped in thick clouds. On a
supposition . only of an ordinary refraction, the
eye takes in, in calm weather, from the summit of
the volcano, a suHace of the globe of 5700 square
leagues, equal to a fourth of the surface of Spain.
The question has often been agitated, if it were
possible to perceive the coast of Africa from the top
of this colossal pyrààîid ; but the nearest parts
of this coast are still farther from Teneriflfe than
2® 49^ or 56 leagues. The visual ray of the ho-
rizon from the Peak being 1*» 5/, Cape Bojador
can be seen only on the supposition of its height
being 200 toise» above the level of the ocean. We

•

* Of all the small islands >of the Canaries, the HocA: o/*
tlie East is the only one, which cannot be seen, even in fine
weather, from the top of the P^k. Its distance is 3° 5^,
while that of the Salvage is only 2* U. The isle of Madeira,
distant 4° 29^ would be visible, if its mountains were more
than S 000 toises high.

194

are absolutely ignorant of the height of the Black
Mountains near Cape Bojadon, as well as that of
the Peak, called by. navigators Pennon grande,
farther to the sojuih of this promontory. If the
summit of the volcano of TenerifFe was more
accessible, we should observe without doubt, with
certain winds^ the effects qf an extraordinary
refraction. In looking over what the Spanish and
Portuguese authors relate respecting the existence
of the fabulous isle of San Borondon, or Antilia,
we find, that it is particularly the humid wind of
the west-south-west, which produces in these Iq^ti*
tudes the -phq^nomçna of the mirage, Wp. shall,
not however admit wjth ^^r. Vieyra, "that the
plp-y of the terrestrial refractions* may fender
visible to the inhabitants of the Canaries the islands
of Cape Verd, and even the Apalachian Mqun-
tains of America."

The cold, which we felt on the top of ^he Peak,
was vçry considerable for the season. The centi-

«

• * " La refraction da para tgdo." Noticias bistoricas, t. 1,
p. '105. We have already stated, that the American fVuits,
frequently thrown by the sea on the coasts of the isle of Ferro
and Gomera, were formerly attributed to the plants of the
island of San Borondon. This land» said by the people to be
governed by an archbishop and six bishops, and which Father
ÏTeijoo believed to be the image of the isle of Ferro, reflected on
a fog bank, was ceded in the 16th century, by the king of Por-
tugal', to Lewis Perdigon, at the time the latter was preparing
to make the conquest of it.

185

grade thermometer*, ^l a distance from the ground,
and from the apertures that emitted the hot va-
pors, descended in the shade to 2'7®. The wind
was westy and consequently opposite to that
which brings to TenerifFe, during a great part of
the year, the warm air, that rises above the burn-
ing desert of Africa. As the temperature of the
atmosphere, observed at the port of Orotava by
Mr. Savagi, was 22*8°, the decrement of caloric
was one degree every 94 toises. This result, per-
fectly corresponds with those obtained by Lamanon
and Saussure t on the summits of the Peak and
£tna, though in very different seasons. The tall
slender form of these mountains facilitates . the
means of comparing the temperature of two strata
of the atmosphere, which are nearly in the same
perpendicular plane ; and under this point of view
the observations made in an excursion to the vol-
cano of TenerifFe resemble those of an ascent in
a balloon. \Ve must peverttTeless remark, that
the ocean, on account of its transparency and eva-

♦ Messrs. O'Donnel and Armstrong observed the 2d ^f
August, 1806^ at eight in the morning, on the top of the
Peak» the thermometer iti the shade at 13.*8^, and in the sun
at 20* 5^ Difference or power of the sun 6 7 centfsknal de-
grees.

t The observations of Lamanon give S9 toises for each
degree of the centigrade thermometer, though the tempera-
ture of the. Piton differed 9V from that which we observed.
At Etna the decrement observed by Saussure was 91 toises^

186

I
* ' #

poratîon, reflects leés caloric than the plains into
the upper regions of the air ; the summits a}éo
which are surrounded by the sea are colder in the
summer, than the mountains which rise from a
continent ; but this circumstance has very little in-
fluence on the decrement of the atmospherical
beat, the temperature of the low regions being
equally diminished by the. proximity of the ocean.

It is not the sa.me with respect to the influence
exercised by the direction of the wind, and the
rapidity of the ascendino; current ; the latter some-
times increases in an astonishing manner the tem-
perature of the loftiest mountains. I have seen
the thermometer .rise, on the slope of • the volcano
of Antisana, in the kingdom of Quito, to 19^,
when we were 2337 toises high. M. Labillar-
dière* has seen it remain, on the edge of the
crater of the Peak of Teneriffe, at 18*7?, though
he had used every possible precaution to avoid the
effect of accidental causes. The temperature of
the. road ot Santa Cruz being then at 28^, the
ditference between the air of the coast and on the
summit of the Peak was 9*3^, instead of 20°,
which corresponds to a decrement of caloric of 94
toises to each degree. I find in the Journal of the
Expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, that at this period
the wind at Santa Ci*uz was south-»south-east.
This same wind blew perhaps more impetuously

* Voyage à la Recherche de La Perouse, VoU 1, p. 23;
Vol. 2, p. 65*

n7

itt the higher* regions of the atmosphere, and
forced back, in an oblique direction, the hot air
of thé neighbouring continent towards the summit
of the Piton. Besides, the visit of M. Labillar-
dière took place on the 17th of October, 1791 i
and, in the Alps of Switzerland, we have observ-
ed, that the difference of temperature between
the mountains and the plains is xotisiderably Jess
in autumn, than in summer. All these varia-
tions ♦ of the ra4)idjty, with which caloric de-
creases, have their influence on the measures taken
by the barometer, only in as much as the decre-
ment is not uniform in the intermediate strata, and
ad it differs from the arithmetical or harmonic

• I shall here bring into one point of view the whole of
the therntometrical observations made at the Peak of Tene-
XifBf and which are proper to determine the number of toises,
that correspond to a lowering of a centigrade degree :
1° Borda (month of September.)
To the Pino de Dornajito, JO 4 toises (mor.ning);
To the Station of the Rocks, 107 toises (evening) ;
* ' To the nartuTdl icehouscj 106 toises (morning) ;
To the foot of the Pilon^ 151 toises (morning) ;
. To the top of tbç Peak, 137 toises (morning) ;
£• Lamanon (month of August),

To the top, 99 toises (morning);
3"^ Cordier (month of April), *'. * ^

To the Station of the Rocks, 124 toises (evening) ;
To the top, 115 toises (morning) j
4° Our Voyage (month of June],
To the top, -94 toises.

progression, which is prresumed rn the formulie
employed.

We could not withdraw our eyes, on the suin-
mitof the Peak, from beholding the color of the
azure vault of the sky. Its intensity at the zenith ap-
peared to correspond to 41® of the cyanometer. We
know by Saussure's experiment, that this intensity
increases with the rarity of the air, and that the
same instrument indicated at the same period SO**
at the priory of Chaijtiouni, and. 40® at the top of
Mont-Blanc. This last mountain is 540 toises
higher than tJie volcano of TenerifFe; and if,
notwithstanding tliis difference, the sky is seen
there of a less deep blue, we must attribute tliis
phîEnomenon to the dryness -of the African air,
and the proximity of the torrid zone.

•We collected, air on the brink of the crater,
which we meant to analyse on our voyage to
America. The }>Wal remained' so well corked,
that, on opening it ten days after, the water
rushed in with impetuosity. Several experiments,
made by means of nitrous gas in the narrow tube
of Fontana's eudiometer, seemed to prove, that
the air of the crater contained 0*09 less oxygen
than 'the air of the sea; but 'I have little confi-
dence in- this result obtained -by means which we
now consider as very inexact. The crater of the^
Peak has so little depths and the air is' renewed
with so much facility, it is scarcely probable,
that the quantity of azot is greater there than oD

189

the coasts. We knew also, from the experiments
of Messrs. Gay-Lu^sac and Theodore de Saus-
sure, that in the highest as well as in the lowest
regions of the atmosphere, the air equally con*»
tains 021 of oxygen*.

We saw on the summit of the Peak no trace of
psora, lecidea, or other cryptogamous plants ; no
insect fluttered in the air. We found however a
few hymenopteras adhering to masses of sulphur
qioistened with sul{ihurous acid, and lining the
mouths of the funnels. Thes^ are bees, which
appçar to hâve been attracted by the flowers of
the spartium nubig^rium, and which oblique cur-
rents of air had carried up tor these high regions^
like the butterflies found by M. Ramond at the
tO|) of Mont Perdu* The butterflies perished
from cold, while the bees oti the Peak were
scorched on imprudently approaching- the cre-
vices where they came iu search- of warmth.

Notwithstanding the heat we felt in our feet
on the edge of the crater, the cone of ashes re-
mains' cohered with snow during several months

^ During the stay Messrs. Gay^Lussac and myself made
^t the hospice of Mount Cenis, in March» l$0ô, we collect*
ed air in the midst of a strongly electrified cloud. This air,
analysed in Volta's eudiometer, contained no hydrogen, and
its p'drity did not differ 0*002 of oxygen frohi th6 air of
Paris, which we had carried with us in phials hermetically
sealed. On air collected at 3405 toises height, &et Annuls
de Chimie^ t. 52^ p. 9^

190

f

in the vi^itlter. It is probable, that under the cap
of sftow considerat)le hollows are found, like those
we find under the glaciers of Switzerland, tJhe
temperature of which is constantly less elevated
than that of the soil oh which ih^y repose*.
The cold and violent wind, \^ hich blew from the
time of sunrise, engaged us to seek shelter at
the foot of the Piton. Our hands and faces were
frozen, while our boots were burnt by the soil
on which we walked. We descended in the
space of a few minutes' the Sugar Loaf which we
had scaled with so much toil; and this rapidity
was in part involuntary, for we often rolled down
on the ashiès. It^vâs witb regret that we quitted
this solitary place, this domain • where Nature
towers in all her majesty; we soothed ourselves
wkh the hope of once again visiting the Canary
islands, but this, like many other 'plans which we
then formed, has never been executed.

We traversed the Malpays but slowly; the
foot finds no sure foundation on loose blocks of
lava. Neaf^r the Station of the Rocks, the des-
cent becomes extremely painful ; the compact
short- swarded turf is so, slippery, that we
tvere obliged to incline, our bodies continually
backward, in order to prevent our falling. In
the sandy plain of Rétama, the thermometer ?ose.

• See the exerellent work of Mr. Stapfer, Voy. Pittgresq.
de r Oberland, p. 6U

m

to 22*5* > and this hçat seemed to us suffocating
in comparison with the sensation . of cold, which
wc had suffered from the air on the summit 6f
t,he volcano. We were absolutely without water;
our guides, not satisfied with drinking clandea-
tinely the little provision of malmsey, for which
we were indebted to Mr. Cologan's careful kind-
ness, had broken ^ur water vessels. Happily the
bottle which contained the aiv of the crater es-
caped unhurt

, We at length enjoyed the refreshing breeze in
the beautiful region of * the arborescent erica and
fern; we were enveloped in a thick^bed of clouds
stationary at. six hundred toises above the plain.
In crossing this, we remarked a phaenomenon
which wa^ afterwards familiar to us on the decli«
vities of the Cordilleras. Small currents of air
chased trains of clouds with unequal velocity, and
in opposite directions ; and bore the appearance
of streamlets of water in rapid motion and in
all . directions, amidst a great mass of stagnant
waters. The causes of •this partial motion of
the- clouds are probably very various ; we may
suppose it to arise from some impulsion at a
great distance ; from the slight inequalities of the
soil, which -reflects in a greater or less degree
the radiant heat; from a difference of tempera-
ture kept up by some chemical action; or per-
haps from a strong electric charge of the vesicu*
lar vapors. j-

i9â

As we approached the town of Orotava, we
met great flocks of 'canaries *. These birds, weH
known in Europe> were in general uniformlj
green; some had à yellow tint on their backs;
their note was the same as that of the tame cana-
ry. It is nevertheless remarked, that those which
have been taken in the isle of the Great Canary,
and in the islet of Monte Clara, near Lanzerota,
have a stronger, and at the same time the most
harmonious song. Under every zone, among
birds of the- same species, each flock has its pe-
culiar note.' The yellow canaries are a variety,
which has taken birth in Europe ; and those we
saw in cages at Orotava and Santa Cruz had
been bought at Cadiz, ancf in other ports of
Spain. • But of all the birds of the Canary islands,
that which has the most heartsoothing song is
unknown in Europe ; this is the' capirote. Which
no effort has been able to tame, so sacred to his
soul is liberty. I have stood* in admiration at his
soft and melodious warbUng, in a garden at Oro-
tava ; but I have never/seen him sufficiently near,
to know to what family he belongs. As to the '
parrots,- which, were supposed to have b«en seei>
at the period of Captain Cook's abode at Tene-
riffe, they never existed but in the narrative ol*

* Fringilla canaria. La Caille relates, in the narrative of
bis voyage to the Cape, that on Salvage island these cana-
rien are so abundant, you c^inHot walk there in a certain sea*
80B, without breaking their eggs.

V

.198

a few travellers, who have copied from each other.
Neither parrots nor monkeys inhabit the islands
of the Canaries ; • and though in the New Conti-
nebt the formei' migrate as far as North Carolina,
I doubt whether in the Old they have ever been
met with beyond the 68th degree of north lati-
tude. ^ ,

Toward the close of day we reached the port
of Orotava, where we heard the unexpected news,
that the Pizarro would not set sail till the 34th
or S5th. If we could have calculated on this
delay, we should either have lengthened our stay^
on the Peak, or made an excursion to ^ the vol-
cano of Chahorra. We passed the following day
in visfking the environs of Orotava, and enjoying
the agreeable company we found at Mr. Colbgan's.
We perceived, that the abode at Teneriffe was

* As a great number of travellers, who land at Santa Cruf ,
do not. undertake ib« excursion to the Peak, because they art
ignorant of the linie which it takes, it may be useful to lay
down the following data : In making use of mules as far as
the Station of the English, it takes twenty «one hours from
Orotava to arrive at the summit of the Peak, and return to
the port ; namely, from Orotava to the Pino del Dornajito
three hours ; from the Pino to the Station of the Rocks six
hours ; and from this station to the Galdera three hours and
41 half, I reckon nine hours for the 4e8C6nt. In this valua-
tion I count only the time employed in walking, and no way
that which is necessary to examine the productions of the
Peak, or to take repose. Half a day is sufficient to go from
Santa Crus to Orotava»

VOL. I. Q

10 If

interesting not only to those whose business is the
study of nature; we found at Orotava several
persons, who have a taste for literature and music,
and who have transplanted into these distant cli-
mates the amenity of European society. In these
respects, the Canary islands have no great re-
semblance to the other Spanish colonies, excep-
ting the Havannah.

We were present, the eve of St. John, at a
pastoral fête in the garden of Mr. Little. This
gentleman, who had rendered great service to the
Canarians during the last famine, has cultivated a
hill covered with volcanic subst^ces. He has
formed in this delicious site an English garden,
whence there is a magnificent view of the Peak,
of the villages along the coast, and the isle of
Palma, which limits the vast extent of the ocean.
I cannot compare this prospect with any, except
those of the bays of Genoa and Naples ; but Oro-
tava is greatly superior to both in the magnitude
of the masses, and ,in the richness of vegetation.
In the beginning of the cvenmg, the slope of tlie
volcano exhibited on a sudden a most extraordi-
nary spectacle. The shepherds, in conformity to
a custom, no doubt introduced by the Spaniards,
though it dates from the highest antiquity, had
lighted the fires of St. John. These scattered
n^assas of fire, these columns of smoke driven by
the wind, formed a fine contrast with the deep
verdure of the forests, which covered the sides of

195"

the Peak. Shouts of joy heard from afar were the
only sounds, that broke the silence of'pature in
these solitary abodes.

Mr. Cologan's family has a country house
nearer^the coast than that I have just mentioned.
The name given by the proprietor is appropriate
to the sentiment, which this rural spot inspires.
The house of La Paz was also connected with a
circumstance that rendered it peculiarly interesting
to us. M. de Borda, whose death we deplored,
was its inmate during his last visit to "the Canary
islands. It was in a small neighbouring * plain,
that this gentleman measured the base, by which
he determined the height of the Peak. In this
geometrical operation, the great dracaena of Oro-
tava served as a mai^k. If any well-informed tra-,
veller should some future day undertake a new
measurement of the volcano with more exactness,
and by means of astronomical repeating circles,
he ought to measure the base, not near Orotava>
but near Silos^ at a place called Bante. Accord-
ing to M. Broussonet, there is no plain near the
Peak of greater extent. In herbalizing near La
Paz, we found a great quantity of lichen roccella
on the basaltic rocks bathed by the waters of the
sea. The archil of the Canaries is a very ancient
branch of commerce ; this lichen is however found
in less abundance in the isle of TenerifFe, than in
the desert islands of Salvage, La Graciosa, and
L' Alegranza, or even in Canary and Hierro.

o 2

196

\

"VVe left the port of Orbtava on the 24th of
June in .the morning : we dined, as we passed
through Laguna, with the French consul. He
had the kindness to take charge of the geological
collections* we had made, and which we destmed
for the kiiïg of Spain's cabinet of natural history.
As we left the town, and turned our eyes toward
the road of Santa Cruz, woe were alarmed at see-
ing our vessel, the Pizarro, under way. On reach-
ing the port, we learnt, that she was plying under
an easy sail^ to wait for us. The English vessels,
that were stationed off the island of Teneriffe, had
disappeared; and we had not a moment to Jose
to go on board. We embarked ah)ue, for. our
fellow-travellers were Canarians, and at the end
of their journey. We regretted in this number
Don Francisco Salcedo, son of the late Spanish
governor of Louisiana, whom we met with again
at the isle of Cuba, on our return from the Ori-
noco,

Not to interrupt the narrative of the e3ft:ursion
to the top of the Peak, I have said nothing of the
geological observations I made on the structure
of this colossal mountain, and on the nature of
the volcanic rocks of which it is (composed: Be-
fore we quit the Archipelago of the Cariaries, I
shall delay a mometit, and bring into one point of

* Mr. Hergen Las described them ia the Annales de Ciencias
nafuraic9, which be puUisbed jointly with Abbé Cavanilles.

197

view what relates to the physical picture of these
countries»

The mineralogists who think, that the end of
the geology of , volcanoes is the classification of
lavas, the examination of the crystals they contain,
and their description according to their external
characters, are generally very well satisfied, when
they come back . from the nu)uth of a burning vol*
cano. They return loaded with numerous collec-
tions, which are the principal objects of their Ve-
searcheç. This is not the feeling of those, who,
without confounding descriptive mineralogy* with
geognosy, endeavor to raise themselves to ideas
generally ititeresting, and seek, in the study of na-
ture, for answers to the following questions :

Is the conical mountain of a volcano entirely
formed of liquified matter, heaped together by
successive eruptions; or does it contain in its
centre^ ^ nucleus of primitive rocks covered with
lavas, which are these same rocks altered by fire ?
What are the affinities, which unite the produc-
tions of modern volcanoes with the basaltes, the
phonolites, and those porphyries with basis of
feldspar, which are withoiït quartz, and which
cover the Cordilleras of ÎPeru and Mexico, as well
as the small groups of the Monts d'Or, of Cantal^
and of Mézen in France ? Has the central nucleus
of volcanoes beea heated in its primitive position,

* Oiyctognosy.

198

and raised up, in a softened state, by the force of
the elastic vapours, before these fluids communi-
cated; by means of a crater, with the external air ?
What is the substance, which, for thousands of
years, keeps up this combustion, which is somet
times so slow, and at other times so active ? Does
this unknown cause act at an injmense depth ; or
does this chemical action take place in secondary
rocks lying on granite ?

The farther we are from finding a solution of
these problems in the numerous works , hitherto
published on Etna and Vesuvius, the greater is the
desire of the traveller, to see with his own eyes.
He hopes to be more fortunate than those who
have preceded hhn ; he wishes to form a .precise
idea of the geological relations, the volcano and
the neighbouring mountains bear to each other:
but, how often is he disappointed, when, on the
limits of the primitive soil, enormous b^nks of
tufa and puzzolana render every observation on the
position and stratification impossible ! Wp reach
the inside of the crater with less difliculty than we
at first expected , we examine the cone from its
summit to its basis ; we are struck with the diflfer-
ence in the produce of each eruption, and with
theianalogy which still exists between the lavas of
the same volcano : but, notwithstanding the care
with which we interrogate natur^ and the number
of partial observations which are presented at every
ptep^ we return from, the summit of a burning

>

199

volcano less satisfied, than wbea we wefe prepariog
to go thither. It is after we have studied them
on the spot, that the volcanic phenomena appear
Still more isolated, more • variable, more obscure,
than we figure them wheii consulting the^ narratives
of travellers.

These reflections occurred to me on returning
from the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, the first
unextinct volcano I had yet visited. They returned
ariôw, whenever in South America, or in Mexico,
I had occasion to examine volcanic mountains. If
we reflect on the little progress, which the labours
of mineralogists, and the discoveries in chemistry,
have made toward the knowledge of the physical
geology of mountains, we cannot help being afl^ected
with a. painful sentiment; and this is felt still more
' strongly by those, who, questioning nature under
different climates, are more occupied by the pro*
blems they have not been able to solve, than with
the small number of results they have obtained.

The Peak of Ayadyrma, or of Echeyde *, is a
conic and isolated mountain, placed in an islet of
very small circumference. The learned, who do
not take into consideration the whole surface of the
Globe, believe, that these three circumstances are
common to the greater part of volcanoes. They

• The word Echeyâf^ which signifies Hell in the language
of the Gruanchea^ has been corruptee! by the Europeans into
Teyde.

200

èke, în support of their opinion, Etna,, the Peak
of the Azores, the Solfâtara of Guadaloupe, the
Trois-Salazes of the Isle of Bourbon, and that
archipelago of volcanoes contained in the Indian
Sea and th^ Great Ocean. In Europe and in Asîâ^
as far as the interior of the latter continent i»
knpwn, no burning volcano is situate in a chain
of mountains ; all being at a greater or less distance
from these chains. In the New World, on the
contrary, and this fact deserves the greatest at-
tention, the volcanoes the most stupendous for
their masses foroa a part of the Cordillera^ them-
Belves. The mountains of mica-slate and gneiss in
Peru and New Greriada immediately touch the
volcanic porphyries of *H^ provinces of Quito and
Pasto. To the south and north of these countries,
in Chili -and in the kingdom of Guatimala, the
active volcanoes are grouped in rows. They are
the continuation, as we rt)ay say, of the chains of
primitive rocks ; and if the volcanio fire has broken
forth in some plain far from the Cordilleras, as in
mount Sangay and JoruUo *, we must consider this
phenomenon as an exception to the law, which
hature seems to haVe imposed on these regions.
I here ought to state again- these geological facts,
because this pretended isolated ôituation of every

•Two volcanoes of the provinces of ^uixos and Mcchoacan,
one in the Bouthern, and the other in the northern hemi»
sphere*

201

volcano has been opposed to the idea, that the
Pcgk of TenerifFe, and the other volcanic sumnrits
of the Canary Islands, are 'the remains of a sub-
merged ' chain of mountains. The observations,
which have been made on the grouping of the
volcanoes in America, prove, that the ancient state
of things represented in the conjectural tnap, of
the Atlantic by M. Bory de St. Vincent* is no
way in contradiction to the acknowledged, laws of
nature ; and that nothing opposes our admitting,
thçt the summits of Porto Santo, Madeii a, and the
Fortunate Islands, may heretofore have formed,
either a distinct range of primitive mountains, or
the western extremity of the chain of Atlas.

The Peak of Teyde forms a pyramidal mass like
Etna, Tungurabua, and Popocatepetl. This phy-
siognomic character is very far from being com-
toon to all volcanoes. We have seen some in the
southern hemispl)ere, which^ instead of having
Ihe form of a cone or a bell,. are lengthened in one
direction, having the ridge sometimes smooth, and

• The question, whether the traditions of the ancients re-
specting the Atlantis arc founded on historical facts, is en-
tirely different from this, whether the Archipelago of the
Canaries and the adjacent islands are the wrecks of a
chain of mountains, rent and sunk in the sea in one of the
great convulsions of our Globe* I do not pretend to form any
opinion in favour of the existence of the Atlantis ; but 1 en-
deavour to prove, ttiat the Canaries have no nioî^ been ere-
ated by volcanoes, than the whole body of the smaller An-
tilles has been formed by madrepores»

202

at others rough with small pomted rocks. This
structure is peculiar to Antisana and Pichincha,
two burning mountain^? of the province of Quito ;
and the absence of the conic form ought never to
be' considered as a reason excluding a volcanic
origin. I shajl developejn the progress of this
work some of the analogies, which I think I have
perceived between the physiognomy of volcanoes
and the antiquity, of their rocks. It is here suf-
ficient to observe in general, that the summits,
which are still subject to eruptions of the greatest
violence, and at the nearest periods to each other,
are slender peaks of a conic form ; that the moun-
tains with lengthened summits^ and rugged with
small stony masses, are v^ry old volcanoes, and
near being extinguished ; and that rounded tops in
the form of domes, or bells, indicate those pro-
blematic porphyries, which are supposed to have
been heated in their primitive place, penetrated by
vapours, and lorced up in a softened state, without
having ever flowed as real lithoidal lavas. To the
first* of these distinctions belong Cotopaxi, the
Peak of Teneriffe, and that of Orizava in Mexico.
The second! is common to Cargueir^zo and Pi-
chincha, in the province of Quito j to the volcano. of
Puracey, near Popayan ; and perhaps also to
Hecla, in Iceland. The thirdj and last is found

< * Picturesque Atlas, folio, PI. lO,
t Ibid. Pl.,61.
i Ibid, PI. 16., ■

803

in the majestic figure of Chimborazo, and, if it be
permitted to place by the side of this colossus a
hill of Europe, in the Great Sarcouy in Auvergne.

In order to form a more exact idea of the ex-,
ternal structure of volcanoes, it is important to
compare their perpendicular height with their cir-
cumference. This however cannot be done with
any exactness, unless the mountains are isolated,
and placed on a plain which is nearly on a level
with the sea. In calculating the circumference of
the Peak of TenerifFe >in a curve passing through
the port of Orotava, Garachico, Adexe, and
Guimar, and setting aside the prolongations of its
basis towards the forest of Laguna, and the north-
east cape of the island, we find that this extent is
more than 54000 toises. The height of the Peak
is consequently one twenty-eighth of the circum-
ference of its basis. Mr. Von Buch found a thirty-
third Cor Vesuvius; and, which perhaps is less
, certain, a thirty-fourth for Etna *. If the slope of

* Gilbert, Annalen der Physik, B. 5, p. 455. Vesuvius is
133,000 pal(a£i3, or eighteen nautical miles in circumference.
The horizontal distance from Résina to the crater ié 3700
toises. Italian niineralogists have estimated the circu'ni'-
ference of Etna at 840,000 palmas, or 119 miles. With these
data, the ratio of the height to the circumference would he
only a seventy-second ; hut I find on tracing a jcurve through
Cataoia, Palermo, Bronte, and Piemonte, only 62 miles in
circumference according to the hest maps. This increases
the ratio to a fifty-fourth. Does the basis fall on the outside
4>£ the curve that I assume ?

204

Ûtese three volcanoes wefe uniform from the summit
to its basis, the Peak of Teyde would have an in-
clination of 12® 29% Vesuvius 12* 41% and Etna
10® 13'; a result which must astonish those, who
do not reflect on what constitutes an average slope.
In a very long ascent, slopes of. three or four
degrees alternate with others which are inclined
from 25 to SO degrees ; and the latter only strike
our imagination, because we think all the slopes of
mountains more steep than they really are. I may
cite in support of this consideration the example
of the ascent from the port of VeraCruz^to the
elevated plain of Mexico. It is on the eastern
slope of the Cordilleras that a road has been
traced, which for ages has not been frequented
except on foot, or on the back of mules. From
Encero to the. small Indian village of Las Vigas,
there are 7500 toises of horizontal distance ; and
Encero being, according to my barometric mea-
surement, 74d toises lower than Las Vigas, the
result, for the mean slope, is only an angle of
5« 40^.

I have drawq on the same plate, the profiles of
the Peak of Tencriffe, Cotopaxi, and Vesuvius.
I could have wished to have substituted Etna for
this last mountain,, because its form is more ana-
logous to that of the two volcanoes of America and
Africa ; but I chose to trace only the outlines of
mountains that I had visited and measured myself;
and with respect to Etna I should have wanted data

S05

for the intermediary heights. I ought also to ob-
serve, that, in the three profiles, the scales of
distances and of heights have the safhe proportions.
The distances have been determined after the
charts of Zanoni, fiorda, and La Condamine.
Trhe reader versed in the practice of levelling will
hot be astonished at the very- geiitle slope, which
these profiles seem to indicate. In nature, an
inclined plane of an angle of 35» appears to be
50® : we scarcely dare go down a hill of 28® slope
in ^ carriage ; and the parts of the volcanic cones,
that are inclined 40® or 42o) are almost inacces-
sible, though the foot may form steps by plunging
it in the ashes. I have recorded in a note * the

* I«n places where there were at the same time slopes
covered with tufted grass and loose sands I took the following
measures :

5% slope already of a very marked inclination. In France the

high roads must not exceed 4^ 46^ by law ;
15^, slope extremely steep, and which we cannot descend in

a carriage ;
37^ slope almost inaccessible on foot, if the bottom be ^

naked rock, or a turf too thick to form steps. The body

falls backwards when the tibia makes a smaller angle than

53**, with the sole of the foot ;
42^ the steepest slope that can be climbed on foot in a ground

that is sandy, or covered with volcanic ashes.

When the slope is 44°, it is almost impossible to scale ii,
though the ground permits the forming of steps by thrusting
in the foot. The cone» of volcanoes have a medium slope from

206

experiments I made on the difficulties arising from
the declivities in mountainous countries.

Isolated volcanoes, in the most distant regions,
are very analogous in their structure. At great
elevations all have' considerable plains, in the
middle of which arises a cone perfectly circular.
Thus at Cotopaxi the plains of Suniguaicu extend
beyond the farm of JPansache. The stony sum-
mit of Antisana, covered with eternal snow, forms
an islet in the midst of an immense plain, the
surface of which is*: twelve leagues square, while
its height exceeds that of the Peak of Teneriffe
two hundred toises. At Vesuvius, at three hun-
dred and seventy toises high, the cone detaches
itself from the plain of A trio del Cavallo. The
Peak of Teneriffe presents two of these elevated
plains, the uppermost of which, at the foot of the
Piton, is as high as Etna, and of very little ex-
tent; while the lowermost, covered with tufts of
rétama (spartium nubigenum), reaches as far as
the Estancia de los Ingleses. This rises above the
level of the sea almost as high as the city of Quito,
and the summit of Mount Lebanon.

The greater the quantity of matter that has-
issued from the crater of a mountain, the more

33"^ to 40^. The steepest parts of these cones, either of
Vesuvius, the Peak of Teneriffe, the volcano of Pichincha,
or Jorullo, are from 40° to 42°. A slope of 55° is quite
inaccessible. If seen from above it would be estimated at
75°.

S,Q7

elevated is its cone of ashes in proportion to the
perpendicular height of the volcano itself. No-
thing is more striking under this point of view,
than the difference of structure between Vesu-
vius, the Peak of Teneriffe, and Pichincha. I
have chosen this last volcano in preference, be-
cause its summit* enters scarcely within the limit
of the perpetual snows. The cone of Cotopaxi,
the form of which is the most elegant and most
regular hitherto known, is 540 toises in height;
but it is impossible to decide, whether the whole
of this mass is covered with ashes.

Xames of the volcanoes.

Total height
in toises.

Height of the

cone covered

with ashes.

Proportion of

the cone ta the

total height.

•

Vesuvius

606

200

1

1

3

Peak of Teneriffe

1904

84

1

22

Pichincha

2490

5240

1
10

This table seems to indicate, what we shall
have an opportunity of proving more amply here-
after, that the Peak of TenerifFe belongs to that

♦ I have measured the summit of Pichincha^ that is the
small mountain covered with ashes above the Llano del Vul-
can, to the north of Alto de Chuquira. This mount has not
however the regular form of a cone. As to Vesuvius^ I have
indicated the mean height of the Sugar-Loaf, on account of
the freat difference between the two edges of the crater.

208

group of great volcanoes, which, like Etna and
Antisana, have had more co()ious eruptions frona
their sides than from the summit. Thus the cra-
ter at the extremity of the Piton, which is called
the Caldera, is extremely small ;. and this dimi-
nutiveness had already struck M. de Corda, and
other travellers, who took little interest in geolo-
gîcal investigations.

As to the nature of the rocks which compose the
soil of TenerifFe, we must first distinguish between
productions of the present volcano, and the range
of basaltic mountains, which surround the Peak,
and which do not rise mpre than five or six
hundred toises above the level of the Ocean^
Here, as well as in Italy, Mexico, and the Cor-
dilleras of Quito, the rocks of trapp-formation *
are at a distance firom the currents of recent la-
vas ; every thing shows, that these two classes of
substances, though they owe their origin to similar
phenomena, date from very different periods. It
is important to ' geology, not to confound the
currents of modern lavas, the heaps of basalt,
greenstone, and phonolite, which are dispersed
over the primitive and secondary formations, with
those porphyroid masses with basis of compact
feldspar f, which perhaps have never been per-

* The trapp'formcUion includes the basaltes, greenstone
(grumttm)^ the trappeau porphyries, the phonolites or por^^
phj/rschiefer^ &c.

f These petrosiliceous masses contain vitreous and often

209

fectly liquified, but wkich do not less belong to
the domain of volcanoes.

In the isle of Teneriflfe strata of tufa, pujzzo-
lana, and clay, separate the range of basaltic
hills from the currents of recent lithoid lavas^
and from the eruptions of the present volcano*
In the same manner as the eruptions of Epomeo
in the isle of Ischia, and those of Jorullo in Mex*
ÎCO, have taken place in countries cqvered with
trappean porphyry, ancient basalt, and vdcanic
ashes, so the Peak of Teyde has raised itself
amidst the wrecks of submarine volcanoes. Not-
withstanding the difference of composition in the
recent lavas of the Peak, there is a certain regu-
larity of position, which must strike the naturalist
the least skilled in geognosy. The great elevated
plain of Rétama separates the black, basaltic,
and earthlike lava, from the vitreous and feld-
sparry lava, the basis of which is obsidian, pitch-
stone, and phonolite. This phaenomenon is so
ixiuch the more remarkable, as in Bohemia and
other parts of Europe, the porphyrschiefer with

calcined crystals of feldspar, of hornblende, of pyroxene, a
little of olivine, but scarcely any qnartz. Ta this s^tvy am<
biguous formation belong the trappean porphyries ofChim-
borazo and of Riobamba in America, of the Euganean moun-
tains in Italy, and of the Siebengebirge in Germany ; as well
as the domites of the Great-Sarcuy, of Puy-de-Dorae, of the
Little-Cleirsou, and of one part of the Puy Chopiue in Au-
vergne,

VOL. I. P

«10

baseof phonolite* cover» also the convex siftn-
mits of the basaltic mountains.

We have already observed, that from the le-
vel of the sea to Portillo, and as far as the en-
trance on the elevated plain of the Rétama, that is
two thirds of the total height of the volcano, the
ground is so covered with plants, that it is diffi-
cult to make geological observations. The cur-
rents of lava, which we discover on the slope
of Monte Verde, between the beautiful spring of
Domajito and Caravela, are black masses, altered
by decomposition, sometimes porous, and with
very oblong pores. The basis of these lower
lavas is rather wacke than basalt; when it is
spongy, it resembles the amygdaloids f of Frank-
fort on the Main. Its fracture is generally irre-
gular; wherever it is conchoidal, we may pre-
sume, that tlie cooling was more rapid, and the
mass was exposed to a less powerful pressure.
These currents of lava are not divided into regu-
lar prisms, but into very thin layers, not very
regular in their inclination; they contain much
olivine, small grains of magnetic iron, and augits,
the colour of which often varies irom a deep
leek green to an olive green, and which might
be mistaken for crystallited olivine, though no
transition from one to the other of these sub-

♦ KHngitein. Werner.
t JFakkenartiger mundcUtan of Steinkaute.

su

statices exists *. Hornblende, or amphibole, Î8 în
general very rare at Teneriffe, not only in the
modem lithoid lavas, but also in the ancient ba-
salts, as bas been observed by M. Cordier,
wlio resided longer at the Canaries than any
other mineralogbt. Nepheline, leucite, idocrase,
and mejonite have not yet been seen at the
Peak of Teneriffe ; for a reddish gray lava, which
we found on the slope of Monte Verde, and which
contains small microscopic crystals, appears to
me to be an intimate mixture of basalt and anal-
cimef. ' In the same manner the lava of La
Scala, with which the city of Naples is paved,
offers an intimate mixture of basalt, nepheline,
and leucite. With respect to this last substance^
which has hitherto been observed only at Vesu-
vius, and in the environs of Rome, it exists per-
haps at the Peak of Teneriflfe, in the old currents
of lava that are covered by more recent ejections.

* Sttffens, Hanihuck der Oryktognom^ T. i, s. 364. The
crystals which Mr. Frieskben and myself have made known
under the denomination of foliated divine (blœttrigtr olivinj
belong, according to Mr. Karsten, to the pyroxene, augit.
Journal des Mines de Frieberg, 1791» P* 215»

f This substance, which M. Dolomieu discovered in the
amygdaloids of Catania in Sicily, and which accompanies
the stilbites of Fassa in Tyrol, forms, with the chabasie of
Haiiy, the genus cubicit of Werner. M. Cordier found at
Teneriffe zeolite in an amygdaloid which covers the basaltes
of La Punta di Naga.

P 3

£12

Vesuvius during a long series of years* has also
thrown out lavas without leucites: and if it be
true, as Mr. Von Buch has rendered very proba-
blef, that these crystals are formed only in the
currents, which flow either from the crater itself,
or veiy near its brink, we must not be surprised,
if we do not find thiem in the lavas of the Peak,
which are almost all owing to lateral eruptions,
and which consequently have been exposed to an
enormous pressure in the interior of the volcano. »

In the plain of Rétama, the basaltic lavas dis-
appear under heaps of ashes, and pumice stone
reduced to powder. Thence to the summit, from
1500 to 1900 toises in height, the volcano exhi-
bits only vitreous lava with basis of pitchstone ;};
and obsidian. These lavas, destitute of horn-
blende and mica, are of a blackish brown, often
varying to the deepest olive green. They contain
large crystals of feldspar, which are not fissured, and
seldom vitreous. The analogy of those decidedly
volcanic masses with the resinit porphyries § of
the valley of Tribisch in Saxony is very remark-
able ; but the latter, which belong to a very ex-

* For instance in 1760, 1794, and 1805.

i Leopold to» Buchf Geognostische Beob. t. % s. C2i. GUm
berts Ann. t. 6, s. bS. The existence of leucites (amphigènes)
at Arendahl in Norway, in Scotland, in the Pyrenees, in
Transylvania, in Mexico, does not rest on any very accurate
obsej valinns.

I Petrosilex resin ité, Haiiy.

% Pechstein-porphyr* Werner.

313

tended and metalliferous formation of porphyry %
often contain quartz, which is wanting in the mo*

* We can now distinguisb four formations (hauptnieder"
lagen) of porphyry. The^rst is primitive, and found in sub-

» ordinate strata in the gneiss, and the mica-slate (Isaac at
Freyberg). The second altefnates with syenit : it is older than
grauwakke, and belongs most probably already to the tran»
sition mountains fuebergartgs gebirge). It contains beds of
pitchstone and obsidian, and even granular limestone, of which
we see instances near Meissen in Saxony : it is extremely
rich in metals, and is found in Mexico (at Guanaxuato,
Regla, &c.), in Norway, in Sweden^ and at Schemnitz in
Hungary. The porphyry of Norway covers, near Skeen,
grauwakke and mandelstein ; it encloses crystals of quartz.
Near Holmestrandt, a bed of basalt, which abounds in augit,
is interposed among the transition porphyry. The rock of
Schemnitz (the saxum metalliferum of Ferber and Born), which
lies on the thonschiefer, is destitute of quartz, and contains
hornblende and common feldspar. It is this second formation
of porphyry, which appears to have been the centre of the
oldest volcanic revolutions. The third formation belongs to
the ancient sandstone CtodtesUegende)^ which seems as a basis
to the alpine limestone (^pen.kalkstein or zechstein) : it
contains mandelstein (amygdaloides) mixed with agate (at
Oberstein, in the Palatinate), and sometinics covers (in Thu*
ringia) strata of coal. IlXi^ fmitth formation of porphyries is
trappean, destitute of quartz, and, especially in America,
often mixed with olivin and augit ; it accompanies basalts,
greenstone, and phonoïïtes (Chimbqraao, the province de los
Pastos, Drachenfels near Bonn, Puy-de-Dûmc). The clasêi-
lication of the porphyries is accompanied with great difficul-
ties. Granite, gneiss, mica-sl.Ue or nncaceous schist, thon-

, schiefer, and chloritscbiefer, form a series, in which each rock
is connected with that which precedes it. The porphyries, on

âl4

dern lavas. When the basis of the lavas of the
Malpays changes from pitchstone to obsidian, the
color is paler, and mixed with gray ; in this case,
the feldspar passes by imperceptible gradations
from the common, to the vitreous. Sometimes both
varieties meet in the same fragment, as we ob-
served also in the trappean porphyries of the val-
ley of Mexico. The feldsparry lavas of the Peak,
of a much less black color than those of Arso, in
the isle of Ischia, whiten at the edge of the crater
from the effect of the acid vapors ; but their inside

the contrary, are found, as it were, isolated in the geognostical
9ystem ; they offer transitions into each other, ' but not
into the substances on which they repose. {Buck, Geognost.
Btob. 1. 1, 8.5Q). As in the course of this work volca*
tXc and nonvolcanic porphyries niay often occur> it a(H
pears to me indispensible, to exhibit the general table of the
formation traced by the illustrious chief of the Freyberg
school, from his own observation, those of Von Buch, Es^
mark, and Friesleben, and mine. The great divisions, which
are susceptible of much improvement, are independent of any
hypothesis on the origin of porphyries, as they relate .only to
position^ superposition 9 and relative age. The four forma-
tions just described, may be distinguished by the names of pri-
mitive porphyries furporpht/rej, of transition porphyries
(uebergangsporphi/re)^ secondary porphyries (flxz-porphyre)^
^nd trappean porphyries (irapporphyre), U we confound the
second and fourth of these formations under the common
fifiVC^ of porphyry-lavas, we throw geognosy back into the
obscurity from which it is scarce freed: we might as well
class gneiss, mica- slate, and thonschiefer, under the general
p^i)[)0 of l^min^ aiui schistose rocks^

915

is no way deprived of color like that ]ctf the felds-
parry lavas of the solfeterra at Naples, which per-
fectly resemble the trappean porphyries at the foot
of Chimborazo. In: the middle of the Malpays, at
the heiiiht of the cavern of ice, wc found among
the vitreous lavas with the pitchstone and- obsidian
basis, blocks of real greenish-gray, or mountain
green phonolite, with a smooth fracture, and di*
vided into thin lamin©, sonorous and keen edged.
These masses were the same as the porphyr*
schiefer of the mountî^n of Bilin in Bohemia ; we
recognised in them small long crystals of vitreous
feldspar.

This regular disposition of lithoid basaltic lava
and feldsparry vitreous lava is analogous to the
phenomena of all trappean mountains ; it reminds
us of those phonolites lying in very ancient basalts,
those intimate mixtures of augit and feldspar which
cover the hills of wakke or porous amygdaloids :
but why are the porphyritic or feldspan-y lavas of
the Peak found only on the summit of the moun-
tein ? Should we conclude from this position,
that they are of a more recent formation than the
lithoid basaltic lava, which contains olivine and
augit? I cannot admit this last hypothesis; fo#
lateral eruptions may have covered the feldsparry
nucleus, at a period when the crater had ceased its
activity. At Vesuvius also, we perceive small
crystals of vitreous feldspar only in the very an-
cient lavas of the Somma, These lavas, setting

216

« ».

aside the leucîte, very nearly resemble the phono-
litic productions of the Peak of TenerifFe. In
general the farther we go back from the period of
modern eruptions, the tnore appearance the cur-
rents^ increasing both in size and extent, acquire
of real rocks, in the regularity of their position, in
their division into parallel strata, or in their inde*
pendance of the present form of the ground.

The Peak of TenerifFe is, next to Lipari, the
volcano that has produced most obsidian. This
abundance is so much the more striking, as in
other regions of the Earth, in Iceland, in Hun-
gary, in Mexico, and in the kingdom of Quito,
ve meet with obsidfan only at great distances from
burning volcanoes. Sonjetimes they are scattered
over the fields in angular pieces, for instance, near
Popayan, in South America ; at other times they
form isolated rocks, as at Quinehe, near Quito ;
in other places, and this position is very remark-^
able» they are disseminated in peilstein, as at
Cinapecuaro, in the province of Mechoacan*,
and at Cabo de Gates, in Spain. At the Peak of
TenerifFe, the obsidian is not/ound toward the
basis of the volcano, which is covered with mo-
dern lava : it is frequent only towards the sum-
uait, especially from the plain of Rétama, where
very fine specimens may be collected. This pe-
culiar position, and the circumstance that the

f To the west of the city of Mexico,

217

obsidian of the Peak has been ejected by a crater,
which for ages past has thrown out no flames, are
favourable to the opinion, that volcanic vitrifica-
tions, wherever they are found, are to be consi-
dered as of very ancient formation.

Obsidian, jade, and touchstone*, are three mi-
nerals, which nations ignorant of the use of brass
or iron, in all ages, emj[)loyed to make keen-
edged weapons. In the most distant parts of the
Globe, necessity fixed their choice on the same
substance. We see wandering hordes have dragged
with them, in their distant excursions, stones, the
natural position of which the mineralogist has not
yet been able to discover. Hatchets of jade, co-
vered with Azteck hieroglyphics, which I brought
from Mexico, resemble both in their form and
nature those made use of by the Gauls, and those
we find among the islanders of the Pacific Ocean.
The Mexicans» dug obsidian in mines, which took
up a vast extent of ground; and of it made knives,
sword-blades, and razors. In like manner the
Guanches, who called obsidian by the name of
tabona^ fixed splinters of this mineral to the ends
of their lances. « They carried on a considerable
trade in it w itlr the neighbouring islands ; and
from the consumption thus occasioned, and the
quantity of obsidian which must have been broken
in the fabrication, we may presume, that this mi-

* Lydiscbcrstein,

218

lierai is become scarce from the lapse of ages. We
are surprised to see an Atlantic nation substi-
tuting, like the Americans, vitrified lava for iron.
In both countries, this variety of lava was em-
ployed as an object of ornament: the inhabitants
of Quito made beautiful looking glasses vv itli an
obsidian divided into parallel laminae.

There are three varieties of obsidian at the Peak.
Some form enormous blocks, several toises long,
and often of a spheroidal figure. We might sup-
pose, that they had been thrown out in a softened
state, and had undergone a rotary motion. They
contain a quantity of vitreous feldspar, of a snow
white color, and the most brilliant pearly lustre.
These obsidians are nevertheless but little transpa-
rent on the edges, almost opake, of a brownish
black, and of an iniperfect conchoidal fracture.
They pass into pitchstone ; and we may consider
them as porphyries with a basis of «obsidian. The
second variety is found in fragments much less
considerable. It is in general of a greenish black,
sometimes of murky gray, very seldom of a per-
fect black, like the obsidian of Hecla and Mexico.
Its fracture is perfectly conchoid^, and it is ex-
tremely transparent on the edgesi I have found
in it neither hornblende nor pyroxene, but some
small white points, which seem to be feldspar.
All the obsidians of the Peak are free from those
gray masses of pearl or lavender blue, striped, and
in separate pieces of the. form of wedges, contain-

219

ed in the obsidian of Quito, Mexico, and Lipan,
and which resemble the fibrous plates of the ci^ys-
tallites of our glass houses, on which Sir James
Hall, Dr. Thomson, and M. Fleuriau de Bellevue,
have published some very curious observations *.
The third varietv of obsidian of the Peak is the
most remarkable of the whole, from its connec-
tion with pumice stones. It is, like the former,
of a greenish black, sometimes of a murky gray,
but its very thin plates alternate .with layei^s of
pumice stone. Dr. Thomson's fine collection at
Naples contained similar examples of lithoid lava
of Vesuvius, divided into very distinct plates,
only a line thick. The fibres of the pumice stone
of the Peak are very seldom parallel to each
other, and perpendicular to the strata of obsidian ;
they are most commonly irregular, asbestoidal,
like fibrous glass-gall ; and instead of being disse-
minated in the obsidian, like crystallites, they are
found simply adhering to one of the external sur-
' feces of this substance. During my stay at
Madrid, Mr. Hergen showed me several specimens

• BUd. Britann. t. 15, p. 340; t. 27, p. 147. Edin.
Trans.y vol. 5, PI. 1, No. 3. Journ. de Phj/s. an 12, fiorùai^
et an 13 prairial. The name of crystallites has hecn given to
the crystallized thin plates included in glass cooling slowly.
Dr. Thompson and others indicate by the word xerre glastenisê^
glass which by slow cooling is wholly unvitrifiedy and has as-
sumed the appearance of a fossile substance, or real glass
stone.

220

in the mineralogical collection of Don Jose Cla*
vijo ; and for a long time the Spanish mineralo-
gists considered them as undoubted proofs, that
pumice stone owes its origin to obsidian, in some
degree deprived of color, and swelled by volcanic
fire. I was formerly of this opinion, which must
be confined to one variety only of pumice. I
even thought, with many other geologists, that
obsidian, so far from being vitrified lava, belonged
to rocks . that were not volcanic ; and that the fire,
forcing its way through the basalts, the green stone
rocks, the phonolites, and the porphyries with
basis of pitchstone and obsidian, the lavas and
pumice stone were no other than these same rocks
altered by the action of the volcanoes. The de-
privation of color and extraordinary sweUing,
which the greater part of the obsidians undergo in a
forge fire, their transition into pechstein, and
their position in regions very distant from burning
volcanoes, appear* to be plxasnomena very diffi-
cult to reconcile, when we consider the obsidians
as volcanic glass. A more profound study of na-
ture, new journeys, and observations made on the
productions of burning volcanoes, have led me to
renounce those ideas.

It appears to me at present extremely probable,
that obsidians, and porphyries with basis of obsi-
dian, are vitrified masses, the cooling of which has

* Aim. dti Mus. d'Hist. nat. t. 3, p. 398.

221

been too rapid to change them into lithoid lava. I
consider even the perlstein of Mr, Esmarck as an
unvitrified obsidian : for among the minerals in the
king's cabinet at Berlin there are volcanic glasses
from Lipari, in which we see striated crystallites,
of a pearl gray color, and of an earthy appear-
ance, form gradual approches to a granular lithoid
lava, like the perlstein of Cinapecuaro, in Mexico.
The oblong bubbles observed in the obsidians of
each of the continents are incontestible proofs of
, their ancient state of igneous fluidity ; and Dr.
Thomson possesses specimens from Lipari, which
are very instructive in this point of view, because
fragments of red porphyry, or porphyry lavas,
which do not entirely fill up the cavities of the
obsidian, are found enveloped in them. We might
say, that these fragments had not time to enter
into complete solution in the liquified mass; they
contain vitreous feldspar, and augit, and are the
same as the celebrated columnar porphyries of the
island of Panaria, wiiich, without having made
part of a current of lavas, seem raised up in the
form of hillocks, like so many porphyries in
Auvergne, in the Euganean mountains, and in the
Cordilleras of the Andes.

The objections against the volcanic origin of
obsidians, drawn from their speedy loss of color,
and their swelling by a slow fire, are deprived of
their force by the ingenious experiments of Sir James
Hall. These experiments prove, that a stone,

222

whîch îs fusiible only at thirty eight degrees of
"W^edgwood's pyrometer, yields a glass, that softens
at fourteen degrees ; and that this glass, melted
again and unvitrified (glastémsé)y is fusible again
only at thirty five degrees of the same pyrometer.
I applied the blowpipe to some black pumice
stones from the volcano of the Isle of Bourbon,
which, on the slightest contact of the flame, whit-
ened and melted into an enamel.

But whether obsidians be primitive rocks, which
have undergone the action of volcanic fire, or lavas
repeatedly melted within the crater, the origin of
the pumice stones which they envelope at the Peak
of TenerifFe is not less problematic. This subject
is the more worthy of being investigated, since it
is generally interesting to the geology of volcanoes ;
and since an excellent mineralogist*, after having
visited Italy and the adjacent islands with great
attention, affirms, that it is highly improbable,
that pumice stone owes its origin to the swelling
of obsidian.

On recurring to the observations, which I have
had the means of making in Euro{>e, in the Ca-
nary islands, and in America, I conclude, that the
term pumice stone does not denote a simple fossil,
like the word calcedony, opal, or pyroxene, but
that it indicates only a certain state, a capillary or

•M. Fleuriau de Bellevue, Joum. de Phy. I, 60, p. 451
et 461.

223

fibrous form, under which several substances
thrown out by volcanoes are seai. The nature
of these substances is as different as the thickness,
the tenacity, the flexibility, the parallelism, or the
direction of their fibres. We may consequently
doubt, whether pumice ought to hold any place
in a system of oryctognosy ; or whether, like com-
pound rocks» they do not rather belong to the
domain of geognosy. I have seen black pumice
stones, in which augit and hornblende are easily
recognised ; they are less light, of a spongy tex-
ture, and rather cellular than fibrous. We might
be tempted to think, that these substances owe
their origin to basaltic lavas. I have observed
them in the volcano of Pichincha, as well as in
the tufa of Pausilippo, near Naples. Other pu-
mice stones, and these the most common, are of
g, grayish white, or of a blueish gray, with nume-
rous parallel fibres, and containing vitreous feld-
spar and mica. The greater part of the pumice
stones of the iEolian islands, and those I collect-
ed at the foot of the volcano of Sotara, near Po-
payan, belong to thi? class. They seem to have
been originally granitic rocks, as Dolouiieu first
recognised in his voyage to the islands of Lipari*.
Assembled in enormous blocks, they sometimes
form whole mountains far froui any active volca-

♦ Dolomieu, Voy. aux Ik$ de Lipari, p. 67, Id, Mem. mr les
Ijks PonceSf p. 8^.

S24

no. It is thus that we find obsidians between
Llactacunga and Hambato, in the kingdom of
Quito, covering the space of a league square ; and
in Hungary, where they were accurately examined
by Mr. Esmarck. This singular position mOide the
Danish mineralogist think, that they belonged to
the secondary or floetz formation ; and that tlie
volcanic fire had traversed the strata of pumice, as
well as the obsidians and the basalts, which he
equally considers as not of volcanic origin. A
third variety of pumice is that with fragile fibres
somewhat thick, transparent or^ the edges, and of
an almost vitreous lustre, which exhibits the tran-
sition from the granitic pumice stone to the capil-
lary glass. This variety, which is adherent to the
green and grayish obsidian of the Peak of Tene-
riffe, seems to have been produced by the action
of the fire on matters already vitrified.

From the whole of these considerations it re-
sults, that it is as erroneous to consider the whole
of the pumice stones as tumefied obsidians, as to
look for their origin exclusively in granites ren-
dered fusile and fibrous by the action of fire, or
of acid vapors. It is possible, that the obsidians
themselves were only liq^uified granites* ; but we

♦ We meet sometimes, though very rarely, with mica in
the ohsidians : and Dolomleu thinks he has found not only
feldspar and mica, hut also quartz, in the granitic -pumice^
Voy. aux Iles Ponces, p, 122 ; Voy. aux Iles de Wpari, p.
83.

9S5

must distinguish; with Spallanzani, between the
pumices which draw their origin directly from
primitive rocks, and those which, being only al-
tered volcanic productions, vary like them in their
composition*. A certain state, into which several
heterogeneous substances pass, or the result of a
particular mode of action, are insufficient to esta-
blish a species in the classification of simple mi-
nerals.

The experiments of Mr. Da Camara, and those
I made in 1802, come in support of the opinion,
that the pumice stones adherent to the obsidians
of the Peak of TenerifFe do not unite to them
accidentally, but are produced by the expansioa
of an elastic fluid, which is disengaged from the
compact vitreous matter. This idea had for a
long time occupied the mind of a person highly
distinguished for his talents and reputation at Qui-
to, who, unacquainted with the labors of the mi-
neralogists of Europe, had devoted himself to re-
searches on tlie volcanoes of his country. Don
Juan de Larea, one of those lately sacrificed to
the fury of faction, had been struck with the phae-
nomena exhibited by obsidians exposed to a white

^ The word lava is still more vague than that of pumict
stone. " It is as little philosophical to require an exterior
description of lava, as a mineral species, as it it to ask the
general characters of the mass, that fills the veins of ore»'^
Leop. Von Buch, Geognost, Beob. vol. 2, p. 173.

VOL. I. Q

S26

heat He had thought, that, wherever volcanoes
act m the centre of a country covered with por-
phyry with base of obsidian, the elastic fluids must
cause a swelling of the liquified mass, and act an
important part in the earthquakes preceding erup-
tions. Without adopting an opinion, which seems
somewhat bold, I made, in concert with Mn La-
rea, a series of experiments on the tumefaction of
the volcanic vitreous substances at TeiterifFe, and
on those which are found at Quinché, in the king-
dom of Quito. To judge of the augmentation of
their bulk, we measured pieces exjjosed to a forge
fire of moderate heat by the water they displaced
from a cylindric glass, enveloping the spongy mass
with a thin coating of wax. According to our
experiments, the obiwdians swelled very unequally :
those of the Peak and the black Varieties of Goto-
paxi aîid of Quinché increased near five times
their bulk. The swelling on the contrary was
very little perceptible in the obsidians of the An-
des, the color of which is a brown approaching to
red. When the reddish variety is mingled, in
thin plates, with the black and blackish gray obsi-
dians, the striated mass resembles porcelain jas-
per*; and the opake parts resist the action of the
fire for a length of time, while those which are
less rich in oxid of iron, lose their color and tu-

* Porzellan-jaspis of Werner : thermantide porcellanite of
Hauy.

«27

mefy. What is this substance, the diaengaging
of which reduces ihe obsidian to the state of white
pumice, sometimes fibrous, and at other times
spongy, with oblong cells ? It is easy to perceive,
that it really loses a coloring principle ; and that
the deprivation of color is not merely apparent,
that is to say, it is not owing to the extreme te-
nuity to which the laminae and fibres of the vol*
canic glass are reduced. Can we admit, that this
coloring principle* is a liydruret of carbon, ana-
logous to that which perhaps exists in the flint so
easy to whiten by fire ? Some experiments, which
I made at Berlin in 1806 jointly with Messrs.
Rose and Karsten, on the obsidians of Teneriffe,
Quito, Mexico, and Hungary, in porcelain retorts^
did not yield any results that were satisfactory.

Nature probably employs very different means
to produce the spongy and vitreous pumices of
Teneriffe, the pumices with parallel fibres of the
^olian islands and of Llactacungaf , and^the capil-
lary vitrifications of the Isles of Bourbon, which
sometimes resemble a spider's webj. We may

* It is remarkable, that this principle is not always equally
volatile. M. Gay-Lussac saw lately obsidians of Faroe nqt
'whiten at a degree of heat, which totally deprived of color
obsidians of Mexico, though from exterior appearance it
would have been difficult to distinguish these substances froxx^
one another.

t Between Quito and Riobamba.

X Bory de St, Vincent, Voy. aux Il«3 d'Afri<|ue, t Z, p. 50«

228

admît, that these differences consist principally in
the degree of heat of the volcanic fire, in the pres-
sure under which this fire acts, and in the nature
of the rocks altered by it. Above all, the pres-
sure, which the obsidians undergo in their fusion,
explains why these substances, except some va-
rieties which I collected near Popayan, are never
found whitened. Those of the pumice stones that
have the appearance of being formed at great
depths, are fibrous, of silky lustre, which abound
more in mica than in feldspar, and in which, oa
the Andes, blocks of eight or ten toises in length
have the fibres exactly- parallel with each other,
and perpendicular to the direction of the strata.
Several volcanoes too do not throw out any pumice
istone; and those that do, eject them only 'by their
crater, after the flowing of the lavas. Several
mineralogists think, that primitive granular rocks
may be changed progressively, and in their place,
either by the fire, or by a penetration of hot and
acid vapors, into porphyroidal masses, of a fo-
liated or fibrous texture. This opinion seenis sup-
ported by the existence of the fissured and fibrous
feldspars, which we found in the trappean por-
phyries of Quito. These crystals resemble rhom-
boidal fragments of pumice stone, disseminated in
a domite deprived of colon

The color of the pumice stones of the Peak
leads to ^another important observation. The sea
of white ashes, which encircles the Piton, and co-

229

vers the vast plain of Rétama, is a certain proof
of the ancient activity of the crater : for in all vol-
canoes, even when there are lateral eruptions, the
ashes and the rapilli issue jointly with the vapors
only from the opening at the summit of the moun-
tain. Now, at TenerifFe, the black rapilli extend
from the foot of the Peak to the seashore ; while
• the white ashes, which are only pumice ground to
powder, and among which I have discovered, with
a lensy fragments of vitreous feldspar and pyrox-
ene, exclusively occupy the region next to the
Peak. This particular distribution seems to con-
firm the observations made a Ion» time aero at
Vesuvius, that the white ashes are thrown out the
last, and indicate the ^nd of the eruption. In
proportion as the elasticity of the vapors dimi-
nishes, the matter is thrown to a less distance;
and the black rapilli, which issue the first, when
the lava has ceased running, must necessarily
reach farther than the white rapilli. The last ap-
pear to have undergone the action of a more in-
tense fire.

I have now exa^mined the exterior structure of
the Peak, and the composition of its volcanic pro-
ductions, from the region of the coast to the top
of the Piton. I have endeavoureé^ to render these
researches interesting, by comparing the phaeno-
mena of the volcano of^ TenerifFe with those that
are observed in other regions, the soil of which is
equally undermined by subterranean fires. This

c . 230

fnode of viewing Nature in the universality of her
relations is no doubt prejudicial to the rapidity
Suitable to an itinerary ; but I thought, that, in a
narrative, the principal end of whicli is the pro-
gress of physical knowledge, every other conside-
ration ought to be subservient to those of instruc-
tion and utility. It is by isolating facts, that tra-
vellers, on every other account respectable, have
given birth to so many false ideas of the pretended
contrasts, which Nature offers in Africa, in New
Holland, and on the ridge of the Cordilleras. The
great geological phasnomena are subject to the
«ame laws, as well as the forms of plants and ani-
mals. The ties which unite these phaenomena,
the relations which exist between such varied forms
of organized beings, are discovered only when we
have acquired the habit of viewing the Globe as a
great whole ; qjid when we consider in the same
point of view the composition of rocks, the forces
which alter them, and the productions of the soil
in the most distant regions.

After having treated of the volcanic substances
of the isle of Teneriffe, we have to solve a ques-
tion intimately connected with the preceding in-
vestigation, which in these latter times has much
tengaged the attf^ation of mineralogists. Does the
Archipelago of the Canary islands contain any
rocks of primitive or secondary formation ; or is
there any production observed, that has not been
modified by §re? This interesting problem has

231

been examined by the naturalists vdth Lord
Macartney, and by those who accompanied
Captain Baudin in his voyage to the Austral
lands. The opinions of these distinguished scien«r
tific men are in direct opposition to each other;
and a contradiction of this nature is so much the
more striking^ as there is no question here of one
of those geological reveries, which we are ac-
customed to call systems, but of a positive fact<
easy to verify.

Doctor Gillan, according to the narrg^tive of Si^*
George Staunton*, imagined, that he observed,
between Laguna and the port of Orotava, in very
deep ravines, beds of primitive rocks* This, as-
sertion, though repeated by a number of travellers^
who copy each other, is not the less inaccurate.
What Dr. Gillan calls somewhat vaguely, moun'^
tains of hardjerruginoiis clay y are nothing but an
alluvion, which we find at the foot of every
volcano. Strata of clay accompany basalts, as
tufas the modern lavas. Neither M. Cordier nor
myself observed in any part ofTenerifFe a primitive
rock, either in its natural place, or thrown out by
the mouth of the Peak ; and the absence of these
rocks characterizes almost every' island of small
extent, that has an unextinguished volcano. We
know nothing positive of the mountains of the
Azores ; but it is certain, that the island of Re-

* Voy. de Lord Macartney, t. i. p» 15.

âSS

union *, as well as that of TenerifFe, exhibits only
a heap of lavas and basalts. No volcanic rock
rears its head, either on the Gros Morne f, or on
the volcano of Bourbon, or on the colossal pyra-
mid of Cimandef, which is perhaps more elevated
than the Peak of the Canary Islands.

It is nevertheless asserted jl, that lavas including
fragments of granite have been found on the
elevated plain of Rétama. M. Broussonet in-
formed me, a short time before his death, that, on
a hill above Guimar, fragments of mica-slate, con-
taining beautiful plates of specular iron had been
found. I can affirm nothing respecting the accu-
racy of this observation, which it would be so
much the more important to verify, as M. Poli, of
Naples, is in possession of a fragment of rock
thrown out by Vesuvius §, which I found to be a

* The Isle of Bourbon.

t Blocks of granite, thrown out probably by the ancient
volcano of the Gros-Morne, are found near the source of
Trois-Rivières ; and this fact is so much the more worthy at-
tcntioii, as ihe neighbouring islands, known under the name of
Sechelles, are formed of granitic rocks. — Bory de Sf. rinccftty
Voy. aux Iles d! Afrique^ t. i, p. 338 ; I. ii, p. 35; t. iii,
p. 145 et 246.

I Bory St. Vincent, Essai sur les Iles Fortunées, p. 278.

§ In the valuable collection of Dr. Thomson, who resided
at Naples till 1805, is a fragment of lava enclosing a real
granite, which is composed of reddish feldspar with a pearly
lustre hke adularia, quartz, mica, hornblende, and, what is
very remarkable, lazulite. BiU in general the masses of

233 ,

. real mîca-slate. Every thing that tends to en-
lighten us with respect to the site of the vol-
canic fire, and the position of rocks subject to its
action, is highly interesting to geology.

It is possible, that, at the Peak of TenerifFe, the
fragments of primitive rocks thrown out by the
mouth of the volcano were less rare than they ap-
pear to be, and are heaped together in some ravine,
which may not yet have been visited by travellers.
In fact, at Vesuvius, these same fragments are met
with only in one single place, at the Fossa-Grande^
where they are hidden under a thick layer of ashes.
If this ravine had not long ago caught the attention
of naturalists, when masses of granular limestone,
and other primitive rocks, were laid bare by the
rains, we might have thought them as rare at
Vesuvius, as they are, at least in appearance, at
the Peak of Teneriffe.

With respect to the fragments of granite, gneiss,
and mica-slate, which we find on the shores of
Santa Cruz and Orotava, they do not come froo)

known primitive rocks, I mean ihos« which perfectly resem-
ble our granites, our gneiss, and our mica-slales, are very rare
in lavas ; the substances we commonly denote by the name or
granite thrown out by Vesuvius are mixtures of nepheline,
mica, and pyroxene. We are ignorant whether these mixtures
constitute rocks ^î generis placed under granite, and con«
eequently of more ancient date ; or simply form either inter-
mediate strata or veins, in the interior of the primitive
mountains, the tops of which appear at the surface oi the
Globe,

234

the opposite coasts of Africa, which are calcareous,
but were probably brought in ships as ballast»
They no more belong to the soil where they lie,
than the feldsparry lavas of Etna, which we ob-
serve in the pavements of Hamburgh and other
towns of the north. The naturalist is exposed to a
thousand errors, if he loses sight of the changes,
which the intercourse between nations produces on
the surface of the Globe. We might be led to
say, that man, expatriating himself, is desirous
that every thing should change country with him.
Not only plants, insects, and different species of
small quadrupeds, follow him across the ocean ;
his active industry covers the shores with rocks,
that he has torn from the soil in distant climes.

If it be certain, that no enlightened observer has
hitherto found at TenerifFe primitive strata, or even
those trappean and ambiguoqs porphyries, which
constitute the basis of Etna*, and of several

* The Chevalier Gk>eni, who, like several mineralogists of
Germany and France, distinguishes the hasalts from the mo*
deru lavas, considers Etna as a mountain of porphyry, sur*,
mounted by columnar basalts» which serve, in their turn, as
a basis to tl^. feldsparry lavas* The last alone appear to be
owing to the present volcano. The basalts and the por-
phyries belong to a system of older mountains, which cover a
great part of Sicily. The porphyries of Etna are volcanic
without doubt; but every rock, which owes its composition
and its form to the action of fire and vapours, has not made
part of a current of lavas. These observations appeared to
me so much the more necessary, as some very distinguished

255

volcanoes of the Andes, we must not conclude from
this isolated fact, that the whole of the Archipe-
lago of the Canaries is the production of submarine
fires. The island of Gomera contains mountains
of granite and mica-slate*, and it is undoubtedly
in these very ancient rocks, that we must here
seek, as well as' on all other parts of the Globef ,
the centre of the volcanic action. Hornblende,
sometimes pure and forming intermediate strata,
at other times mixed with granite, as in the
basanites or basalt of the ancients, may, by itself,
furnish all the iron contained in the black and
stony lavas. This quantity amounts in the basalt
of the modern mineralogists only to 0*20, while in
hornblende it exceeds 030.

mineralogists have recently affirmed, that the Peak of Tene-
riffe and Vesuvius are mountains of porphyry of Neptunian
origin, and undermined by subterranean fires. The lava of
la Scala has been described without hesitation as a particular
rock, under the narne of grattstein, though it issued from the
crater at a well known epocha» in l631 : some have even
gone farther; they have sapposed, that Somma exhibits the
untouched nucleus of Vesuvius, though its stratified mdss,
traversed by veins filled with more recent lava, is id» r Lai
with the rock constituting the actual crater, which has evi-
dently been in a stale of fusion. Somma exhibits ihe ame
leucites as abound in the greater part of the iavcis of Vt.^ ivius,
and their crystals are included in a phoncliie resenibhug that
of the top of the Peak of TenerilVe.

* Note manuscrite de M. Bruussonet*

f Dolomieu, in the Journ, tie Phys. 1798^ p. 4l4»

ass

Were these granites and these mica-slates of
Gomera anciently united to the chain of Atlas, as
the primiûve mountains of Corsica appear to be the
central nucleus of Bochetta and the Apennines ?
This question can never be solved, till mineralogists
shall have visited the islands that surround the
Peak, and the mountains of Morocco covered with "
eternal snows. Whatever at some future day may
be the result of these investigations, we could not
admit with Mr. Peron*, *^ that in none of the
Canary Islands do we meet with true granites ;
and that, the whole of the Archipelago being
exclusively volcanic, the partisans of the Atlantis
must suppose, what is equally destitute of pro-
•bability, either a continent perfectly volcanic, or
that only the volcanic parts of that continent were
spared in the catastrophe, by which it wa^» swal-
lowed up."

From the information of several well instructed
persons, to whom I addressed myself, I found, that
there are calcareous formations in the Great
Canary, Fortaventura, and Lanzerotaf. I was
not able to determine the nature of this secondary
rock ; but it appears certain, that the island of
TenerifFe is altogether destitute of it ; and that
among its alluvial lands it exhibits only clayey

* Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, t. i, p, 24.

t At Lanzerota calcareous stone is burned to^ lime with a
fire made of the alhulaga, a new species of thorny and arbo-
rescent sonchus. ^

23t

calcareous tufa, but which alternates with volcanic
breccias, and which, according to Mr. Vieyra*, con-
tains near the village of La Rambia, at Calderas,
and near Candelaria, plants, imprints of fishes,
buccinites, and other fossil marine productions.
M. Cordier has brought away some of this tufa,'
which resembles that in the environs of Naples and
Rome, and contains fragments of reeds. At the
Salvages, which La Pérouse took at a distance for
a mass of scoriae, even fibrous gypsum is found.

I had seen, while herbalizing between the port
of Orotava and the garden of La Paz, heaps of
grayish calcareous stones, of an imperfect con-
choidal fracture, and analogous to that of Mount
Jura and the Apennines. I was informed, that
these stones were extracted from a quarry near
Rambia; and that there were similar quarries
near Realejo, and the mountain of Roxas, above
Adexa. This information, probably not very ac-
curate, led me into an error. As the coasts of
Portugal consist of basalts covering calcareous
rocks containing shells, I thought, that a trap-
pean formation, like that of the Vicentin in Lom-
bardy, and of Harutsch in Afiica, might have

• Noticias historicas, t. i, p. 35. The Isle of France
which rises in the form of a pyramid, aad in the disposition
of its volcanic hills has many points of resemblance with
Teneriflfe, has a Neptunian plain in the quartier des Pample-
mousses. The calcareous stone there is filled with ma.
diepores. Bory de St, Vincmt, t. i, p. 207,

238

extended from the banks of the Tagus and Cape
St. Vincent as far as the Canary islands; and
that the basalts of the Peak might perhaps con-
ceal a secondary calcareous stone. I mentioned
these ideas in a letter, which was not intended to
be made public; and they have exposed me to
the severe reprehension of a naturalist, according
to whom every volcanic island is only an accu-
mulation of lavas and scoriae, and who admits
no fact contrary to his own theory of volca-
noes*.

Though TenerifFe belongs to a group of islands
of considerable extent, the Peak exhibits never-
theless all the characters of a mountain placed on
a solitary islet. As at St. Helena, the lead finds
no bottom f at a little distante from the ports

♦" Examination of certain geological opinions of M. de
huraboîdt, by Mr. G. A. De Luc (Journ. de Phys. t. 50, P.
1, p. 114). This memoir, in which we recognise an excel-
lent observer, is the continuation of another against Mr.
Kirwan, who thinks, that the lavas of Vesuvius repose on
the calcareous beds of the Apennines. Ibid. vol. xlix, p.
33. According to th>e Theory of Volcanoes, given by Mr,
jpe Luc, it is impossible, that a real lava should contain frag-
ments of vegetable substances. Our collections, however,
contain pieces of trunks of palm-trees, enclosed and pene«s
trated by the very liquid lava of the Isle of Bourbon. See
the interesting memoir of M. de Fleuriau, /. c. vol. Ix, p.

441.

t Voy. de risis, vol. i, p. 287; Voy. de Marchand, t. i,
p. 542.

239

of Santa Cruz, Orotava, and Garachico. The
ocean, as well as the continents, • has its moun-
tains and it3 plains ; and, if we except tlie Andes,
the volcanic cones are formed every where in the
regions of the Globe.

As the -Peak rises amid a sj^stem of basait^
and old lava, and as the whole part which is vi-
sible above the surface of the waters exhibits
burnt substances, it has been supposed, that this
immense pyranjid is the effect of a progressive
accumulation of lavas ; or that it contains in its
centre a nucleus of primitive rocks. Both of
these suppositions appear to me improbable. I
think that there as little existed mountains of
granite, gneiss, or primitive calcareous stone^
where we at present see the tops of the Peak,
of Vesuvius, and of Etna, as in the plains where
almost in our own time has been formed the vol-
cano of Jprullo, which is more than a third of
the height of Vesuvius. On examining the cir-
cumstances, which accompanied the formation of
the new island in the Archipelago of the Azores *s

* Sabrina island. See the letter of Captain Tillard to Sir
Joseph Banks, PAi/os. Trans for 1812, p. 152. At Sabrina
island, near St. Michael's, the crater opened at the foot of
a solid jock, of almost a cubical form. This rock, termi-
nated by a small elevated plain perfectly even, is more than
two hundred toises in breadth. Its formation was anterior to
that of the crater, into which, a few days after its opening,
the sea made an irruption. At Kameni, the smoke was not

£40

on carefully readîng the minute and ingenuous
narrative, which the Jesuit Bourguignon gave of
the slow appearance of the islet of the little Ka-
meni, near Santorino ; we find, that these extra-
ordinary eruptions are generally preceded by a
swelling of the softened crust^of the Globe. .Rocks
appear above the watefs before the flames force
their way, and lava can issue from the crater:
we must distinguish between the nucleus raised
up, and the mass of lavas and scoriae, which suc-
cessively increase its dimensions.

It is true, in all the revolutions of this kind, .
which have taken place since the time that their
history has been written, the perpendicular height
of the stony nucleus appears never to have ex-
ceeded one hundred and fifty or two hundred
toises; even taking into the account the depth of
the sea, the bottom of which had been lifted up :
but when we are considering the great effects of
nature, and the intensity of its forces, it is not
the bulk of the masses, that o.ught to stop the
geologist in his speculations. Every thing indi-

cven visible till twenty six days after the appearance of the
raised rocks. PkiU Trans, vol. xxvi, p. 69 and 200; vol.
xxviiy p. S63, All these phaenomena, on which Mr. Haw-
kins collected very valuable observations during his abode
at Santorino, are unfavorable to the idea commonly enter-
taiaed of the origin of volcanic mountains, which ascribes
them to a progressive accumulation of liquified matter, and
the diffusion of lavaà issuing from a central mouth.

241

catës, that the physical changes, of which tradi*
tion has preserved the remembrance, exhibit but
a feeble image of those gigantic catastrophes^
which have given mountains their present form^
changed the positions of the rocky strata, and
buried seasbells on the summit of the higher
Alps. It was undoubtedly in those remote times^
which preceded the existence of the human race^
that the raised crust of the Globe produced those
domes of trappean porphyry, those «hills of iso*
lated basalt on vast elevated plains, those solid nu*
clei which are clothed in the modern lavas of the
Peak, of £tna, and of Cotopaxi. The volcanic
revolutions have succeeded each other after long
intervals, and at very different periods : of this
we see the vestiges in the transition mountains»
in the secondary strata, and in those of alluvion.
Volcanoes of earlier date than the sandstone and
calcareous rocks have been for ages extinquished;
those which are yet in activity are in general
surrounded only with breccias etnd modern tufas ;
but nothing hinders us from admitting, that the
archipelago of the Canaries may exhibit some
real rocks of secondary formation, if we recollect
that subterraneous fires have been there rekindled
in the midst of a system of basalts and very
ancient lavas.

I should wander too long from the principal
object of my researches, were I to pursue a sub*
ject, in which mere conjecture supplies tjie place

VOL. I. K

of geological fact. From those dark times, when
(be. elements, subjected to the same laws, had
Bot yet attained their present equilibrium, I come
bài^k to a period less tumultuous, nearer our own
age, and on which tradition and history may throw
âome light. We seek in vain m the Periplus of
Hanno or of Scylàx the first notions written on
the eruptions of the Peak of Teneriffe. Those
navigators sailed timidly along the coast, anchor-
ing every evening in some bay, and had no know-
ledge of a volcano distant fifty she leagues from
the coast of Africa^ Hanno nevertheless relates,
that he saw torrents of light, which seemed to
fall on the sea; that every night the cToast was
covered with fires ; and that the great mountain,
called the Car of the Godsj had appeared to
throw up sheets of flame, which rose even to
the clouds. But this mountain, placed to the
north of the island of the Gorilli*, formed the

* It was in ibis island, that the Carthaginian admiral
S4W, for the first time, a large species of apes of human
form, the Gorilli. He describes them like wpmen, their
lK)dy covered entirely with hair, and very mischievoas, be*
cause they defended themselves with their teeth and nails*
He boasts of having ^yed three of them to preserve their
skins. M« Gosselin places the isle of the Gorilli at the
mouth of the river Nun; but, according to this account,
the lake, near which Hanno saw a multitude of elephants
feeding, should be in the latitude of thirty ù\t and a half,
almost at the northern extremity of Africa. Rech4txhc$ sur
-m Giçgrùphie dm 4(biti€Mf t. ii ]^. ^ 9i 9Hé •

;i

JH3

western extremity of tlfc çb?^n of Atlas ; and it
is also very uncertain» whether the jSiaines seen by
Hanno were the effect of some volcanic eruption,
or whether, they should be .attributed to the cus-
tom, common to so i^any nations, of setting fir^ to
the forest^ aqd i^ry grass qf the savann^. In
our own days simUar tfoubts were entertained
by the naturalists, w^o, in the voyage of d*£n«
.trecasteaux, saw tlie island of Amsterdam co-
vered with a thick smoke*. On the coast of tbe
Caraccas, trains of reddish fire, fed by t^e burn-
ing grass, exhibited to me, for several nights, the
delusive aspect of a current of lava, descending
from tbe mountains, and dividing itself into se-
veral branches.

Though the journals of Hanno and Scylax, in
the state in which they have reached us, contain
no passage, which we can reasonably apply to
the Canary islands, it is however very probable,
that the Carthaginians, and even the Phoenicians,
had some knowledge f of the Peak of Teneriffe.

* Voif, de LabUlardière, t. i» p. 113. Fojf. de d^Entrecas»
teauSf U ip p. 45 •

t S«« a Treatise by Mr. Ideler, inserUd in my Kiews qf
Rature, U i, p. 141 ; and Gossdio» Recherches, t. i, p.
135—159. One of the most distinguished writers of Ger-
many , Mr. Heeren» thinks, that the Fortunate Islands of .
Diodorus ^iculus* vere Madeira and Porto Santo, jf/riia, U
i, p. 194. MaUt'Brun^ Histoire de la Géographie^ p, 76,
96 et 194.

R8

â44

în the time of Plato and Aristotle, vague notions
of it had reached the Greeks, who considered tiie
whole of the coast?t)f Africa, beyond the Pillars of
Hercules, as thrown into disorder by the fire of
voJcanoes*. The Place of the Blessed, which was
sought first in the north, beyond the Riphean
mountains, among the Hyperboreans f, and tjien
to the south of Cyrenajca, was situate in re-
gions that were considered as toward the west,
where the world known to the aiicients tepminated.
The name of Fortunate Islands had long been as
vague a signification, as that of Dorado among
the first conquerors oS America. Happiness, was
thought to reside at the end of the Earth,' as
we seek for the most exquisite enjoyments of

* Aritt. MiraL Auscult. (ed. Casauh.) p. 704. Soliiius
says of Atlas, vertex semper nrcalis lucet noctumis ignibus ;
but this Atlas, ^hkb, like the mountain Meru of the FIrn.
doos, exhibits a mixture of true -ideas and mythological fic-
tions, was not situate in one of the islands of the Hespe-
rideSy as the Abbé Vieyra admits, and after him several tra-
vellers, who have described the Peak of Teneriffe (f^iej/ra, t.
i, p. 225 ; Bory de St. Vincent, p. 395).* The following pas-
sages leave no doubt od this head. Herod, iv, 184 ; Strabo,
xvH {ed. Falconery t. ii, p. 1167;; Mela, iii, 10; PUny.y,
1 ; SolinitSf i. 24 ; and even Diod. Sic. iii {ed. IVess. t. i, p.
221).

.+ Mannert. Geogr. der Griechen, t. iv, s. 57. Thé idea of
the happiness, of the great civilization, and of the riches of
the inhabitants of the north, was common to the Greeks, to.
îbe people of India, and to the Mexicans, -

245

I

the miod in ^]i ideal. world beyond the limits of
reajity.

We must not be surprised, that, previous to the
time of Aristotle, we find no accurate notion re-
specting the Canary islands, and the volcanoes
they contain, among the Greek geographers. The
only nation, whose navigations extended toward
the west and the north, the Carthaginians, were
interested in throwing a veil of mystery over those
distant regions.. While the senate of Carthage
was averse to any partial emigration, it pointed
out these islands as a place of refuge in times of
trouble and public misfortune ; they were to the
Carthaginians, what the. free soil of America is
become to Europeans amidst their religious and
and civil dissensions.

The Canaries were not better known to the
Romans till eighty-four years before the reign of
Octavian. A private individual was desirous of
executing the project;, which wise foresight had
dictated to the senate of Carthage. Sertorius,
conquered by Sylla, wearied with the tumult of
arms^ looks out for a safe and peaceable retreat.
He chooses the Fortunate Islands, of which a de-
lightful picture had been drawn for him on the
coasts of fisetica. He carefully combines the no^
tions he can acquire from travellers 4 but in the
little that has been transmitted tp us of these no-
tions, and in thé more niinute descriptions of Se«
bosus and Juba> there }» no mention, of voJicanoe^

* I. ..«.■. .»rf;; ■ • -..

246

or volcanic eruptions. Scarcely can we recognise
the isle of TenerifFe, and the snows with which
the summit of the Peak is covered -in winter, in
the name of Nivaria^ given to one of the Fortu-
nate Islands. Hence we might conclude, tfcat the
volcano at that time threw out no flames ; if it
were permitted to interpret the silence of a few
authors, whom we know only by short fragments,
or dry nomenclatures. The natufigilist vainly seeks
în history for documents of the first eruptions of
the Peak, he no where finds any but ih the language
of the Guancfies, in which the word Echeyde *
denotes at the same time Hell and the volcano of
Teneriffe.

Of all the written testimonies, the oldest I
have found of the activity of this volcano dates
from the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is
cont^ned in the narrative of the voyage f of

* The same mountain bore the Dïtme of Aya^S'^rma^ in
which HoFo ((/e Originib. Americ, p. 155 and 185] imag^nes^
be finds the ancient denomination of Atlas; which, according
to Strabo, Pliny, i^nd SolintiSji was Dyris* This etymology
is very doubtful ; but in not giving more importance to the
vowels, than they have among the people of the East, we
Und Dyris almost complete in the word Daran, by which the
Af^hian geOjgraphers denote the eastern part of Mount Atlas»

f Nee silendnp puto de insula Tenerifise, qu^ et eximie
/ofitur» If. inter orbis insulas est eminentior* Nam caelo sereno
emiQus conspicitur ; adeo ut qui ^bsunt ab ea ad leucas hisr
fW^ sexagintu vel septuàgint^ non difl$€uiter earn intueantar*
H^ood Cjirpi^tor a longfB id etfctt 9Cùmn>atuB lapis «dattip(tiiiiitf|

f

8^

Aloysio Cadamusltq^ who landed at the Canaries
ih 1505. This traveller was witness of no erup*
tions, but hé positively afHrms, . that, like Etna,
this mountain burns without interruption, and that
the fire has been «een by Christians retained in
slavery by the Guanches of teneriffe. The Peak
therefore was not at that tinoe in the state' of re»
pose, in which we find it at present ; for it is
certain, that no navigateur or inhabitant of Tene*
riffe, has seen issue firom the mouth of the Peak,
I will not say flames, but even any smoke thtit
waà visible at a distance. Perhaps it is to.be
wished, tliat the funnel of the Caldera may open
anew; the lateral eruptions would thus be ren^
déred less violent» and the whole group of islands
would have less to fear firom the effects of eartht
quakes*.

instar pyramidis, in medio. Qui metiti sunt lapidem aiunt
altitudine lucarum quindecim mensuram excedere fih imo ad
fuinmum verticeoi* Is lapis jugiter âagrat> instar Mism
mohtis i id affirmant Bostri Christiani, qui capti aliquando
baec animadvertère, 'AUnfsn Cadamitsti Navigatio ad Terra
IncognUaSf c. 8. '

* Àt ^eaeriife the shocks have hitherto been very incons^»
derable, and limited to a small extent of ground. The sslvo^
thing has been observed at the Isle of Bourbon, and almost
every where at the foot of burning volcanoes. At Naples^
earthquakes precede the. eruptions of Vesuvius, they cease
when the lava begins to flow, and are in general vei^ feeble là
comparison of those felt on the slope of the calcaAms
Apeilûinet: , v ; . ^,.3

â4t

I have heard the question discussed at Orotava,
whether it can be admitted, that in the lapse of
ages the Peak will begin again to act. In a mat-
ter so doubtful, analogy alone can serve as m guide.
Now according to the report of Braccini, the inte-?
rior of the crater of Vesuvius was covered with
shrubs in 161K Every thing then indicated the
greatest tranquillity ; and nevertheless twenty years
fifler, the same gulf, which seemed transformed
into a shadowy vale, threw out sheets of fire, and
an enormous quantity of ashes» Vesuvius re-
sumed in 1 6S 1 the same activity it had in 1 500.
In tlie same manner it is possible, that thç crater
of the Peak may change its appearance at some
future period. It is a solfatara like the tranquil
solfatara of Pu^szuoli ; but it js pkced on the suiQr
pit of a volc^po yet in activity.

The eruptions of the Peak have been very rare
for two ceaturies past, and these long intervals
appear to characterize volcanoes highly elevated.
The smallest of the whole, Stromboli, is ainiost
always bujmiog. At Vesuvius, tà^e eruptions are
alreacjy rarer, tljough still mpre firequent th^ thçse
of Etna and the Peak of TenerifFe. The /colossal
summits of the Andes, Cotopaxi, and Tungurabua,
scarcely have ap eruption once in a century. We
plight say, that in active volcanoes the frequency
pf ilie pruptiQi)s is in the inyerse ratio of the
bfif(bt dJid the n^asg. The Peak also Jiad seeme4
e^Jtipguished during ninety- two years, wheq^ )0

S4d

1798, it made its last eruption by a lateral , open-
ing formed in the mountain of Chahorra. In this
interval .Vesuvius had- sixteen, eruptions. .
^ I have observed in another place *, that the
whole of the mountainous part of the kingdom of
^uito may be considered as an immense volcano,
occupying more tlian seveil hundred square leagues
of surface, and throwing out flames by different
cones,, known under the 'particular denominations
of Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, and Pichincha. In
like manner, the whole group of the Canary
islands is placed, as it were, on the same- subma-
rine volcano. The fire makes its way sometimes
by one and sometimes by another of these islands.
Teneriffé alone contains in its centre an immense
pyramid terminated by a. crater, and throwing out,
from one century to another, lava by its flanks»
In the other islands, the different eruptions have
taken placé** in various parts; and we no where
find those isolated mountains, to which the vol-
canic effects are restrained. The basaltic crust,
formed bj ancient volcanoes, seems everywhere
undermined.; and the currents of lava, seen at
Lanzerota-^and Palma, remind us by evejcy gpolo-
f^oalaffimty of the eruption, which took place in
13.01 at the isle of Ischia, amid the tufai» of
Epomeo.

The following is a ,3tatement of the volcanic

* Géograpli. Végét. p. 130.

■ .J

^0

phenomena, of wlhich the historians of the Ca-
nary islands have preserved the remembrance since
the middle of the sixteenth century.

Year 1558.

At the period when the island of Teneriffe was
ravaged for the first tiûae by the plague, brought
from the Levant, a Volcano burst open, on the 15th
of April, in the isle of Palma, near a spring in
the Partido de los Llanos, A mountain rose from
the earth ; and formed a crater at the top, which
threw out a current of lava a hundred toises in
breadth, and more than two thousand five hundred
in length. The lava flowed into the sea, and,
raising, the temperature of the water, destroyed
the fish * at great distances around.

Year I646.

The ISth of November, a * volcanic mouth
opened in the island of Palma, near Tigalate. Two
others were formed on the seashore « The lanm
which issued from these creviced dried up the ce^
lebrated spring of Furcaliente, or Fnoite Santa;
the mineral waters of which attracted the visits <£
the diseased, who flocked thither even £rom £u^
tope. According to a popular tradition, the erup^

^ Tbi$ Moie f»h»nomeiHm t^^k pl&et in* tSli, near the
Azores, when the' volcano of Sabrina opened at the bottom of
the ocean. The calcined skeleton of a shark was found in the
inundated and extinguished crater* '

tîon ceased in à very extraordinary manpen The
image of our Lady of the Snows, of Santa Ouz»
was carried to the mouth of the 'new volcano^ and
immediately there fell such an immense quantity
of snow, that the fire was extinguished. In the
Andes of Quito, the Indians think thçy have ob-
served, that an abundance of snow water filtrating
into volcanoes increases their activity.

Year 1677.

Third eruption in thé isle of Palma. The
mountain de Las Cabfas threw out scorifo and
ashes through a multitude of small mouths, which
were -formed in succession.

Year 1704.

On the S 1st of December, the Peak o(
^enerifFe formed a lateral eruption in the pftiiù De
tes Infantes, above Icorc, in the district of Guiman
Trtemendous ea/'thquakes J)receded this erufftion»
Oti the 5th* of January 1705, â second opening
took place in the ravine of Âlmërchiga, a league
from Icore. The lavas were so abuiidant, that
ihe whole valley of Fasnia, or Areza^ was filled
up. Thiis second ihOùth ceased its eruption»oh the
13th of January. A third was forlned die fid of
February, in the Cannada de Ari^o. The lavas
divided into three currents, and threatened the
village of Guimar ; but they Were stopped in the
Valley of Melosàï by a diain iof rocks, ^ch

252

formed an msiiperable obstacle to their passage.
During these eruptions, the town of Orotava,
separated from the new mouths by a very narrow
dyke, felt strong shocks.

Year 1706.

On the 5th of May another lateral eruption of
the Peak of Teneriffe took place. The mouth
opened on the south of the port of Garachico^^
which was then the finest and most frequented
harbour in thç island* This opulent and populous
city was built on the edgp of a forest of laurels»
in a very picturesque situation. Two currents of
lava destroyed it in a few hours, not a single ^ifice
being left standing. The port, which had already
suffered in 1645 by the accumulation of sand and
mud caused by a great inundation, was so filled up,
that the lavas formed a promontory in the midst of
it. In the environs of Garacbico, the surface of
the ground changed its appearance. Hills arose
in the plain ; the springs became dry ;. and the
rockS) shaken by frequent earthquakes, remained
naked, without vegetation, and without mould.
The fisheruien only retained their affection for
tlieir native spot. Intrepid, like the inhabitants of
the Toife del Greco, they rebuilt a small village
on the masses of scoriae, and on the vitrified rock.

Year 1730.
■ Pa the 1st of September a dfcadful revolution

253

broke up the ascent of the Isle of Lanzerota. A
new volcano opened at Temanfaya. The lavas
which flowed, and the earthquakes which' accom-
panied-the eruption, destroyed a considerable num-
ber of villages ; among which were the three old
Guanche townships of Tingafa, Macintafe, and
Guatisca. The shocks lasted till 1736; and the
greater part of the inhabitants of Lanzerota fled to
the island of Fortaventura. During this eruption,
which has been noticed in the preceding chapter, a
column of thick smoke was seen to issue from the
sea. Pyramidal rocks rose above the surface of the
waters ; and these new rocks, grtidually extending,
became a part of the island itself.

Year 1798^

On the 9th of June there was a lateral eruption
of the Peak of Teneriffe^ by the flanks of the
mountain of Chahorra, or Venge*, in a place
entirely uncultivated, to the south of Icod, near
the village of Guia, the ancient Isora. This
mountain, backed by the Peak, was at all times
considered as an extinguished volcano. 'Though
formed of solid matter, it- is with respect to the
Peak, what Monte Rosso, which appeared in l66l,

* The slope of the mountain of Venge, on which the erup-
tion took place, is called Chazajanne. See Nicolas de Segundo
de Franqui, in Cavanilles y Hergen, Annales de Historîa
nalur»]^ t. i, p. 298.

S54

f

and the Boche nuove of 1 794i arc to Vesuvius and
Etna. The eruption of ChahoiTa lasted three
months and six days. The lavas and scoriae were
thrown out by four mouths, placed in the same
line. When the lava had gained three or four
toises in height, it advanced three feet every hour*
This eruption took place but a year before my ar*
rival at Teneriffe, and bad left a durable impression
among the inhabitants. I saw at the house of M.
I^egros, at Durasno^ a drawing of the mouths of
the Chahorra, which he had taken on the spot.
Don Bernardo Cologan had visited these mouths
eight days after they were opened, and he had
described the principal phasnomena of this erup-
tion in a memoir, of which he gave me a copy to
insert in the narrative of my travels. Thirteen
years having elapsed since that period, and M.
Bory de St. Vincent having preceded me in the
publication of this memoir, I refer the reader for
it to his interesting Essay on the Fortunate
Islands *. I shall only mention some circum-
stances respecting the height, to which v^ry con-
siderable fragments of rocks were projected by the
mouths of the Chahorra. Mr. Cologan f reckoned

♦ Bory de St. Vincent, p. 296.

+ " Three of these stones," says M. Bory de St. Vincent,

^^ took from twelve to fifteen seconds to f ise till they were

out of sight and fall hack to the ground/' If such was the

observation of Mr. Cologan, the result oi the calcuUitioo

from twelve to fifteen seconds during the fa)l of
these stones, that Is to* say, beginning to count
from the moment they had reached the. maximum
of their height. This curious experiment proves,
that the mouth projected rocks upwards of three
thousand feet.

The whole of the eruptions recorded in this
chronological statement belong solely to the three
islands of Palma> Teneriffe, and Lanzerota*. It
is probable, that, previous to the sixteenth century,
the other islands experienced also the etlQ^cts of
the volcanic fire. Some vague accounts were
given me «of an extinguished volcano in the centre
of the isle of Ferro, and of another in the Great
Canary^ near Arguineguin. But it would be curi^

would differ from that 1 have given; but the observer expressly
says, in the manuscript in my possession: ^' De noche &e
objservô con relox en mano y a muy corta distancia de la
tercera bocca del volcan de Chahorra, el tiempD que desde su
mas alto punto de elevacion hasta perderlas de vista en su
caida, gastaban las [Medras mas faciles de distiiiguir y de très
conque se hizo la experiencia, dos cayeron en cliez segnndas
cada una y la otra en qiiiuze/' Mr. Cologan observes, that
the duration of the fall was even sonoetbing more thaji
fifteen seconds, because he could not keep the stones in sight
till they touched the ground. This kind of observation is
susceptible of great precision, as I was convinced from
similar experinents, which I made during the eruption of
Vesuvius in 1S05.

♦ Vieyra, Noticias, t. ii, p. 404; t. iii, p. 151, 238, 35«,
35 6, and 5 1&

056

ous to know whether traces of subterranean fire
are found in the calcareous formations of Forta-
Ventura, or in the granites and mica-slates of
Gomera.

The merely lateral action of the Peak of
Tenerifte is a geological phasnomenon, so much
the more remarkable/ as it contributes to make
mountains, which are backed by the principal
volcano, appear isolated. It is true, that in Etna
and Vesuvius the great Sowings of the lavas do
not proceed from the crater itself, and that the
abundance of melted matter is generally in the
inverse ratio of the height, at which the opening,
that ejects the lava, takes place. But at Vesuvius
and Etna a lateral eruption constantly finishes by
flashes of flame and^ by ashes, which issue frotn
the crater, that is, from the summit of the
mountain, Af the Peak, this phaenomenon hais
not taken place for ages ^ and yet recently, in the
eruption of 1798, the crater remained quite in-
active. Its bottom did not sink in, while at
Vesuvius, as Mr. von Buch ingeniously observes,
the greater or less depth of the crater is an in-
fallible indication of the proximity of a new
eruption. ^

1 might terminate these geological sketches by
discussing the nature of the combustible, which
feeds, for so many thousands of years, the fire of
the Peak of TenerifFe ; I might examine whether
it be sodium or potassium, the metallic basis

* •-

ôF some earth, carburet of hydcogeri, or pure sul-
phur combined with iron, that burns in the vol-
cano ; but wishing to limit myself to what may be
the object of direct observation, I will not take
upon n^e to solve a problem, for which we have
not yet sufficient data. We are ignorant,- whether
we should conclude from the enormous quantity

• • • *

of sulphur contained in the Crater of the Peak,
that it is this substance which keeps up the heat
of tlie volcano ; or whether the fire, fed by a com»
bustible of an unknown nature, effects merely the
sublimation of the sulphuir. What we learn from
observation is, that in craters which are still burn-
ing sulphur fe very rare ; while all the ancient vol-
canoes finish by remaining true sulphur pits. We
might presume, that in the former the sulphur is
combined with oxygen, while in the latter it is
merely sublimed ; for nothing hitherto authorises
us to admit, that it is formed in the interior of
volcanoes like ammonia and the neutral salts.
When we were yét upacquainted with sulphur,
but as.dlsseniinated in the muriatiferous gypsum,
and in the Alpine limestone, we were almost
obliged to suppose, that in every part of the Globe
the volcanic fire acted on rocks of floetz or secondary
formation ; but recent observations have proved,
that sulphur exists in great abundance in those
primitive rocks, which so many phœnomenar indi*
cate as the centre of the volcanic action. Near Alau-
si, on the summit of the Andes of Quito, I found an
VOL. r. s

S58

I

immense quantity in a bed gf quartz, which formed
a layer of mica-slate* ; and tins fact is so much
the more important, as it is in strict conformity
with the observation of those fragments of ancient
rocks, which are thrown out untouched by the «
volcanoes.

We have just considered the isle of TenerifTe
under mere geological points of view; we have
seen the Peak towering amid fractured strata of
basalt and mandelstein ; let us examine how these
melted matters have been gradually adorned with
vegetable clothing, what is the distribution of
plants on the steep declivity of the volcano, and
what is the aspect or physiognomy of vegetation
in the Canary islands, . .

* In geognosy we mutt distioguieh seven formations o(
sulphur, wbicb are of a very different relative antiquity. The
first belongs to the mica-slate (Cordilleras of Quito) ; the se-
cond, to the transition gypsum (Bex in Switzerland); the
third to the trappean porphyries (Antisana in America, Mont
Serrât in the archipelago of the- smaller Antilles^ Mont d'Or
in France) ; the fourth, to the Alpine limestone (Sicily) ;
the fifth, to the muriatiferous gypsum, placed* between the
•and'Stone and the Alpii^e limestone (Thuringia) ; the sixth,
to the gypsum which it more recent than chalk (Montmartre
near Paris) ; and the seventh, to clayey alluvions (Venejuelo,
Lower Orinoco, Mexico). It is'scarcely necessary to observe,
that, iu ihis nomenclature, those small masses of sulphur,
which art not contained in strata, but in the veins that
traverse rocks of different fori;qutions, are left out of the
question*

j^i.

%

In tHe riortHem part of the tempefate zorie, tKe
fcryptogamous plants are the fii^t, that cover the
Stony crust cff the Globe, The lichens and mossesy
that display their foliage beneath the snows, are
succeeded by gramina, and other phanerogamous
plants. This (irder of vegetation is different ort
the borders of the torrid zone, and in the coun-
tries between the tropics. We there find, it is
true, whatever some travellers may have asserted^-
flat only on the mountains, but also in humid and
shady places, almost on av level with the ocean^
funaria, dici'anum^ and bryum ; and these genera,
among theif numerous species^ exhibit several,
which are common to Lapland, the Peak of Tene-
rifle, and the Blue Mountains of Jamaica*. Never-
theless, in general, it is not by mosses and lichens
that vegetation irl the countries near thé tropics
begins^ In the Canary islands, as well as in
Guinea, and on the rocky coasts of Peru, the. first
Vegetables, that prepare the mould for others, are
the succulent plants ; the leaves of which, provided
with an infinite number of orificesf and cutaneous

* This extraordinary fact, of which we shall speak hext^
afler, was first observed by Mr. Swarz. It was confirmed
by the careful examination, which Mr. Willdenow made of
oUrherbals, especially of the collection of cryptogamous plants,
which we gathered on the tops of the Andes, in a region of
the world where organised brings totally differ froift those of
the rest of the old continent.

+ The bark pores of M. DecandoUe, discovered by Glei-
chen, and figured by Hedwig.

S 2

260

vessels, deprive the ambient air of tlie wateY it
holds in solution. Fixed in the crevices of vol-
canic rocks, they form, as it .were, that first layer
of vegetable earth, with which the currents of li-
thoid lava are clothed. Wherever these lavas are
scorified, and where they have a shining surface,
as in the basaltic mounds to the north of Lanze-
rota, the unfolding of vegetati<Yi is extremely slow,
and many ages may roll away before shrubs can
take root. It is only when lavas are covered with
tufa and ashes, the volcanic islands lose that ap-
pearance of nudity which marks their origin, and
deck themselves with a rich and brilliant vegeta-
tion.

la its present state, the island of Teneriffe, the
Chinerfe^ of the Guanches, exhibits five izones of
plantsf, which we may distinguish by the names
of region of vines, region of laurels, region of
pines, region of the rétama, and region of grasses.
•

* Of Chinerfe the Europeans have formed, by corruption,
Tchineriffe and Teneriffe.

f I have partly sketched this picture of the vegetation of
the Canaries from the manuscript notes of M* Broussonet.
When I pnblished my first '* Essay on the Geography of the
Equinoctial Plants of the New World/' I begged thi& distin«
guished naturalist, who had long resided at Mogadore, in the
empire ^f Morocco, and at Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, to com.
municate to me his ideas relative to the geographical distribu*
tion of plants in those countries. He yielded to my entreaty
with that complaisance and urban ity, which he constantly
exercised in his communications with learned foreigners.

S61

These zoiies are arranged in stages, one above the
other, and occupy, on the steep 'declivity of the
Peak, a perpendicular height of 1750 toises ;
while? fifteen degrees farther north, on the Pyrenees,
the snows already descend to thirteen or fourteen
hundred toises of absolute elevation. If the plants
of TenerifFe do not reach the summit of the vol-
cano, it is not because the perpetual snows*, and

* Though the Peak of Teneriffe is covered with snow during
the winter months only, it is nevertheless possible, that the
Volcano reaches the limit of the perpetual snows correspond-
ing to its latitude, and that th«^ total absence of the snow^ in
summer is owing to the isolated situation of the mountain in
the midst of the seas, to the frequency of the ascending hot
winds, or tJie elevated temperature of the ashes of the Piton ;
but we are unable to solve these dojubts, in the present state ,
of our knowledge. From the parallel of the mountain of Mexico
to that of the Pyrenees and the AlpsT, between the 20lh and the
45th degrees, the curve of the perpetual snows has not been
determined by any direct measure ; SLXià as an infinite number
of these curves may be traced through the small number of
points whi(ih are known to u* ujsider the latitudes of 0% 20%
45°, 62% and 71° north, calculation is a \ery imperfect sub* ^
stitute for observation. Without advancing any thing very
positive^ we may say, that it is probable in 28® 17' the limit
of the snows is above 1900 toises. From the equator, where
the snows be^in at 2460 toises, that is near the height of
Mont Blanc, to the twentieth of latitude, Gonsequenlly. to the
limits of the torrid zone, the snows descend only a hundred
toises ; now ought we to admit, that eight degrees larther,
and in a climate which still bears almost the chai'acter of a
climiite of the 'tropics,. this line already lowers four hundred
toises? Supposing even a lowering in arithmetical progression

f6S

the cold o| the surrounding ajtmosphere, lay
down limits which they cannot pass; it is the
scorified Java pf the Malpays, the powdpred an4
Jbarren pumice stope of the Piton, which impede
the migratioi> of the plants toward the brink of
^he crater.

from the twentieth to the forty fifth degree of latitude, a sup^
position which is contrary to knoy/n facts CRec. d^Obs, aS'
tron,,yp\. i, p. 134), the perpetual snows would hot begin
under the parallel of the Peak but at the height of 205Q
jtoises above the level of 'the Ocean, consequently 550 toises
higher, tjian on .the Pyrenees and in Switzerland. This result
^s supported also by other considerations. The mean tempe«
raturé of the stratum of air, with which the snows are in con-
tact during the summer, is, on the Alps, a few degrees below
the point of congelation, and under the equaior, a few degrees
above it (L c. p. 137 J. Admitting -that, at 28 degrees
and a half, this temperature is 0, we find* aceordiug to
the law of the decrement of heat, reckoniiig ps toises to
each centesimaldegiee, that the snows ought to exist at
the height of 2058 toiaes above a plain, the mean temjjera-
tUre of which is 21 degrees, and consequently equal to that
of the coasts of Teneriffe. This number is almost identical
with that deduced from the hypothesis • of a diminution in
arithniétic^al progression. One of the higli tops of the Sierra
Nevada of Grenada, the Pico de Veleta, the absoluteheight
of which is 17&1 toises, is perpetually covered -with snows;
but ithe inferior limits of these snows not having b'een mea-
sured, this mountain, in the latitude of 37° l©''. gives us np
information respecting the problem we wish to* solve. * With
Respect to the position of tli« volcano of Teneriffe, in the celu
trè of an island of little extent, it ^oes not apoear, that ;|bi5
circumstance can cause a rising of the curve of the perpetual
snows.^ If in islands thé winters are less rigorous^ the suia-

/ •

S65.

The first zone , that of the vines,- -extends from

the seashore to two or three hundred toises of

height; it is that which is nrost inhabited, and

the only part cartfully cultivated. In these low

regions, at the port of Orotava, àrtd whereve

r

mers are less scorching ; and it is not so much on the rneaq
temperature of the whole year, as on that of the summer
months, that the height of the snows depends. On Etna the
snows hegin at 1500 toises^ and even a little below ; which
is extraordinary enough for a summit placed in 37 degrees
and a half of latitude.

Towards the pokr circle, where the heats of summer arc
tempered by the Ibg^ that rise continually above the Oceam
the difference between the islands on the coasts and the in.
terior of the country becomes extremely perceptible. Iq
Iceland, for example, on the Osterjoeckull, in the sixty fifth -

«

degree of latitude, thei perpetual snows descend to four hun-
dred and eighty two toises ; while in Norway, in the sixty
seventh, far from the coasts, in situations where the winters
are much, more rigorous, and where consequently the mean
temperature of the year Is less than in Iceland, the snows
descend only to six hundred .toises of height (Leopold von
Biichf in the Amu of Gilb. 1812, t. ii, p. 37 and 43). From
these considerations it appears probable enough, that Bouguer
and Saussure were deceived, wheft they admitted, that the
Peak of TenerifTe reaches the constant inferior limit of the
snows (Figure dc la terrei p. 4S, and Voy. dans les Alpes, t.
iv, p. 103). We find this term, for latitude 28° 17^ at
least at 1950 toises high, even in calculating it by interpo-
lation between Etna and the volcanoes of Mexico. Thitf
matter will be made entirely clear, when we shall have
measured the western part' of Atlas, which neai* Morocco,
in thirty degrees and a half of latitude^ is covered with per*
petual snow».

264

the winds have free access, the centigrade ther-
mometer stands in winter, in the months of Janu-
^ry and February,, at noon,, between, fifteen and
seventeen degrees ; and the strongest lieats of 'the
summer do not excwd twenty-fivç or twenty-six
degrees : they are consequently jive or six de-
grees below the extremes, which the thermometer
annually reaches at Paris, Berlin, and Peters-
burgh. These results are taken from the obser-
vations made by Mr. Savaggi frpm 1795 to 1799,*
The mean temperature of the coasts of TenerifFc
appears at least to rise to twenty one degrees
(16'8® Reaumur); and their climate holds the me-
dium between the climate of Naples, and- that
of the torrid zone. At the island of Madeira,
the mean temperatures of the months of January
and August are, according to Heberden, from
ITT" to 23-8^.; while at Rome they rise tp 5*6?
and 26*2^. But notwithstanding the extreme
analogy observable between the climates of Ma-
deira and Teneriffe, the plants of the first of
these islands are generally less delicate to culti-
vate in Europe, than the plants of Teneriffe.
The cheiranthus lohgifolius of Orotava, for in-
stance, freezes at Montpellier, according to. the
observation of M. DecandoUe; while the chei-
ranthus mutabilis of Madeira passes the wintep
there in the open ground. The. heats of sum-
mer are of less continuance at Madeira, tliau at
Teneriffe.

m

T]be region of the vines exhibits, simong ito
vegetable, productions, eight kiqcis of nr^orescen^
euphorbia; mesembrianthema, whicb' are mul-
tiplied from the Cape of Good Hope J;o the Pe*
loponnesus; the cacalia kleioiaji the-draccena, 8^4
otiier plants^ which in their naked and toituous
trunks, in their succulent leaves, and their tint
of hlueiih green, eithibit features distiogpishing
the vegetation of Africa; It is in this zone, that
tlie date tree, the plant^in^ ttie sugar cane, the
India fig, (he arum colocasia, the root of which
furnishes the lower class with a nutritive fecula,
the olive tree, the fruit trees of Eurdpe, the vine,
and corn £^re cultivated. The wheat is reaped
from the end of March to thé beginning, of May :
find the culture of the breadfruit tree of . Otaheite,
that of the cinnamon tree of the Moluccas, the
coffee tree of Arabia, and the cocoa tree of Ame-
rica, have been tried with success. On several
points of the icoast, the country assumes the cha-
racter of a tropical landscape ; and we recognise,
that the region of the palms extends beyond the
limits of the torrid zone. The chafnosrops and
the date tree flourish in the fertile plains of Mur-
yiedro, on the coasts of Genoa, and ia Provence,
near Anlibes, bctweeo the thirty ninth and forty-
fourth degrees of latitude: a few trees of the latter
species, planted within the w^alls of the city of
Rome, resist even a cold of 2*5® below the freez-
ing point. But if the south of Europe does not

yet but feebly share in the gifts lavished by Nature
on the zone of palms, the isle of Teneriffe, placed
under the parallel of Egypt, southern Persia, and
Florida, is already decorated with the greater
part of the vegetable fortns, that increase' the
majesty of the landscape in regions near the equa-
tor.

On reviewing the different tribes of indigenous
plants, we regret the not having found trees with
small pinnated leaves, and arborescent gramina.
No species of the numerous family el the sen-
sitive plants has pushed its migrations as far as
the archipelago of the Canary islands, while on
both • continents they have been discovered as far
as the thirty-eighth and fortieth degrees of lali--
tude. In America the schranckia' uncinata of
Willdenow* advances even to the forests of
Virginia ; in Africa the gum-droppiftg acacia ve-
getates on the hills of Mogadore : in Asia, to the
west of the Caspian* Sea, Mr. von Biberstein saw
the plains of Shirvan covered with the acacia
stephaniana. If we more, carefully examine th#
plants of the islands of Lanzerota and Porta ven-
tura, which are nearest the coasts of Morocco,
we shall perhaps find a few mimosas among so
many other plants of the Afri'can Flora,

The second zone, that of the laurels, contains
the woody part of Teneriffe ; this is the region of

• «

* Mimosa horridula, Michaux.*

«67

the springs that rise] up amidst a turf always ver-
dant, and never parched with drought. Lofty
forests crown the hills, that lead to the volcai:K>,
and in therp find four species of laurel *, an oak
nearly resembling the quercus Turnerif of the
mount^ine of Thibet, the visnea mocanera, the my-
rica faya of the Azores, a native olive (olea
excelsa), ' which is the largest tree of this zone,
two species of sidcroxylon, , the leaves of which
are extremely, beautiful, the arbutus callicarpa,
and other evergreen trees of the femily of myrtles.
jBindweeds, ^nd an ivy very different from that
of Europe (hederâ canariensis) entwine the [trunks
of the laurels; at their feet vegetate a niimber-
Icss quantity of ferns;};, of which three species^
alone descend as low as the region of the vines.
The soil, covered with mosses and a tender grass,
is enriched with the flowers of the golden .cam-
panula, the chrysanthemum pinnatifidum, the Ca-
nary mint, and several busliy species of hyperi-
cum||; Plantations of wild and grafted chesnut

«

* Laurus indica, 1. fœtens,!. nobilis, and 1. Til. With these
trees are mingled the ardlsia e^iLcelsa, rhamnus glandulosus,
erica arborea, and e. texô.

+ Quercus canariensis, Broussonet. ( IV ilia, Enum». Plant»
Hort. Berol. 1809, p. 975.) ' .

X WoodwardiaTadicans,a8pleniumpalmatum, a. canariensis,
a. latifolium, notholasna subcordata, trichomanes canariensis^
t. speciosutn, and davallia canariensis.

§Two acrostichutns and the ophyoglossiim lusitanicum.

»

H Ilypericam canaricnse, h. ftorihundutn,. and h. ghindulo*
sum.

S68

trees form a large border around the region of
the springs, which is the greenest and most agree-
able of the whole.

The third zone begins at nine hundred toises of
absolute height, where the last group, of arbutus*
of myrica fay a, and that beautiful heath known to
the natives under. the name of texo, appears.
This zone, four hundred toises in breadth, is en-
tirely filled by a vast forest of pines, among which
mingles the juiiiperus cedro-of Broussgnet» The
leaves of these pines are vçry long; stiff, and sprout
sometimes by pairs, but oftener by threes in one
sheath. As we had no opportunity of examining
the fructification, we cannot say whether tliis
species, which has the appearance of the Scotch
fir, is really different from the eighteen species of
pines, with which we are already acquainted on
the old continent. A celebrated botanist; who
by his excursions has rendered great services to
the botanical geography of Europe, M. Decan-.
doUe, thinks, that the pine of Teneriffe is equally
distinct from the pinus atlantica of the «eighbour- .
ing mountains of Mogadore, and from the pine of
Aleppo*, which belongs to the basin . of the

♦ Pinu^ halepensis. Mr. Decandolle observes, that this
i&pccieç, whi^h is not found in Portugal, but grows on the
J\l«diterranean side of France, Spain, alid Italy, in Asia
Minor, and in Baibary, would be b«tter nanied piuns mediter-
ranea. It composes the principal part of the forests of pines
in the south-east of France, where Gouan and Gerard have

S69

^ledîterranean, and does not appear- to have
passed the Pillars of Hercules. We have met
with these last pines on the slope of the Peak,
near twelve hundred toises above the level of the
ocean. In the Cordilleras of New Spain, under
the torrid zone, the Mexican pines reach as high
a& two thousand toises. Notwithstanding the simL
larity of structure, that exists between the différent
species of the sanie genus of plants, each of them
requires a certain degree of temperature and rarity
in the ambient air, to attain its due growth. If in
the temperate climates, and wherever snow falls,
the constant heat of the soil is somewbat above the
mean heat of the atmosphere, it is probable, that
at the height of Portillo the roots of the pines
draw their nourishment from a soil, in which, at
a certain depth, the thermometer rises at most to
nine or ten degrees.

The fourth and fifth zones^ the regions of the
rétama and the gramina, occupy heights equal to
the most inaccessible summits of the Pyrenees.
It is the sterile part of the island, where heaps of
pumice stone, obsidian, and broken lava, forni
impediments to vegetation. We have already
spoken of those flowery tufts of alpine broom
(spartium nubigenum), that form oases amidst a
vast isea of ashes. Two herbaceous plants, the

confounded It with the pinus syslvestris. It comprehends tfajft
pinus halepensis, Mill., Lamb*, and Desfont., and the pinus
maritima, Lamb.

«70

scrofiilaria glabrata, and the viola cheiranthifolisf^
advance eyen to the Mal'pays* Just above ft turf
scorched by the heat of an African sun, an arid
soil is overspread by the cladonia paschaHs, to
which the herdsmen often set fire, that rolls to
considerable distances. Toward the summit of
the Peak, the urceolanea, and otlier plants of the
family of the lichens, labour at the decomposition
of the scorified matter. By this unceasing action
of organic forces the empire of Flora extends
itself over islands ravaged by volcanoes.

In traversing tlie different zones of the vegeta-
tion of Teneriffe, we see that the whole island
may be considered as a forest of- laurels, arbutus,
and pines, of which the border has scarcely been
cleared, and which contains in its centre a naked
and rocky soil, unfit either for pasturage or cul-
tivation. M. Broussonet observes, that the archipe-
lago of the Canaries may be divided into two
groups of islands. The first contains Lanzerota
and Fortaventura, the second TenerifFe, Canary^
Gomera, Ferro, and Palma. The appearance of
the vegetation essentially differs in these two
groups. The eastern islands, Lanzerota and
Fortaventura, consist of extensive plains and
mountains of little elevation ; they have very few
springs, and bear the appearance, still more tlian
the otlier islands, of having been separated from
the continent. The winds blow in the same direc-
tion, and at the same periods: the euphorbia

271

mauritanica, the atropa frutescens^ and the
arborescent sonchus» vegetate there in the loose
sands, and serve, as in Africa, for food to camels.
The western group of the Canaries presents a more
elevated soil» more woody, and watered by a
greater number of springs.

Though the whole archipelago contains several
plants found in Portugal*, in Spain, at the
Azores, and in the north- wjest of Africa, a great
number of species, and even of genera, are peculiar
to- Tenerifie, to Porto Santo, and Madeim. Such
ai^ the mocanera, the ploçama, the bosea, the
canarina, the drusa, and the pfttosporum. A form
which may be called norlliem, that of the cruci-
form plantsf , is already much rarer in the

* Mr. VVilldeaow and myself found, among the plants of

the Peak of TeneriiTe, tlie beautiful satyrium diphyllum (orchis

cordata, VVilld.), which Mr. Link discovered in Portuj^al. The

Canaries have, in common>nrLth the Flora of the Azores, not the

dicksônia culcita, . the only arborescent heath found at the

thirty-ninth degree of latitude, but the asplenium' palmatum,

and the myrica faya. This tree \ïï met with in Portugal, in a

wild state. Count Hoffmaftinsegg has seen very old trunks of

it ; but it was doubtful whether it was indigenous, or imported

into this part of our continent. In reflecting on the migra*

lions of plants, and on the geological possibility, that landf»

sunk in the ocean may have heretofore united Portugal, the

Azores, the Canaries, and the chain of Atlas, we conceive,

that the existence of the myrica faya in western Europe is a

phaenoroenon at least as striking as that of the pine of Aleppo

would be at the Azores»

t Among the smi^l number of cruciform species contained

272

Canaries, thâri in Spain ànd in Greece. Still
farther to the south, in the equinoctial regions of
both continents, where th3 mean temperature of the
air rises above twenty- two degrees, the cruciform
plants are scarcely ever to be seen.

• A question highly interesting to the history of
the. progressive display of organization on the
Globe has been very warmly discussed in our own
times, that of ascertaining whether. the polymor-
phous plants are more cdmtnon in the volcanic
islands. The vegetation of TenerifFe is unfavour-
able to the hypothesis, that nature in new coun-
tries appears less Subjected to constant forms,
M. Broussonet, who resided so long at the Ca-
narieSy asserts, that the .variable plants are not
more common there than in the south of Europe.
Ought it tiot to be presumed, that the polymor-
phous species, which are so. abundant in the Isle
of Bourbon, are owing rather to the nature of the
soil, and to the climate, tlmn to the newness of
the vegetation ? '

I have now given a physical sketch of the island
of Teneriffe; I have endeavoured to lay down
precise notions respecting the geologiaal constitu-
tion of the Canaries, the geography of plants
peculiar to this archipelago, and their grouping at

in the Flora -of Teneriflfe, we shall here mention cheîranthui
longifoliug, rilerit.j ch. fractcscens, Vent.; ch. scoparius,
Brouss.; erysimum bicorne, Alton; crambe. strigosa, and c.
Isvigata, Brouss.

873

dffFerent heights above the. level of the ocean.
Though I flatter myself with having thrown some
light on objects, which have been so often dis-
cussed by other travellers, I think nevertheless, that
the natmral history of this archipelago still offers a
vast field to inquiry. The commanders in scien*
tific expeditions, of whicli EngUnd, France, .Spain^
Denmark, and Russia have furnished such brilliant
examples, have in general been too hasty in quitting
the Caparies.. They have imagined, that these^
islands have been sufficiently described/ because
they .are so nearly borderiqg on JEurope; they
have forgotten, ' that, in ^ geological point of view,
the interior of New Holland is not more unkqown^
than-the rocks of Lanzerota and Gooiera, of Porto
Santo and Terceira. We every: year, see a great
number of naturalists traverse without any deter-
mined' end the most frequented parts of Europe/,
Let us hope, that some among them, influenced by
a love of science, and capable of pursuing 9. plan
of several yeai^s, will devote themselves to the ex-
amination of. the archipelago of the Azores»
Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verd Islands, and
the north-west coast of Africa*: By comparing
observations made under the same point of view,
in the Atlantic islands, and on the neighbouring
continent, we shall attain exact information with
respect to geology, and the gepgraphy'bf animals
aqd plants.
Before we take \^y^ of thfii qW world tp pass

VOL. I. T .

fi74

mto the new, I must speak of a subject which in*
spires à still greater interest, because it belongs to
the history of man, and to those fatal revolutions^
which have swept off whole tribes from the face of
ttie earth. We mquire at the isle of .Cuba, at SL
Domingo, and in Jamaica, where is the abode of
the primitive inhabitants of those countries? We
ask at Teneriffe what is become of the Guanehes,
whose mummies alone, buried in caverns, bave
escaped destructioa? In.tbe fifteenth'! century,
àhnôst all the mercantile oations, especially the
Spaniards and the I^prtuguese, sought for slaves
at the Canary, islands, as we' iseek them at present
oti the coast of Guinea^. The ChristiaB religion,
ivhieh in its origin was so highly favourable to
the liberty of mankind, served, as a pretext to the
cupidity oi Europeans. £very individual, made
prisoner before he received the rite oi baptism, was
â slave. At this period, no attempt had yet been
made to prove, that the blacks were an inter*
mediary race between men and animals. The
swarthy Guanche and. the African nçgrowere
simultaneousiy .sold in tbei- market of Seville
without a question whether slavery ought to
weigh only on xneii irith a black sain and fria*
dedhair.

.. . »* , . ,

* The SpanUh; bfstoriaDs speak of expeditions made by the
Huguenots of La Rochelle to carry off Guahche staves. I have
some doubt respecting these expeditions, which would liâvé
ùàMii place posterior to <he ytàt isSO.

S7«

The archipelago of the Cazmries was divided
into several so^U stat^ hostile to each othar.
Oftentimes the same island was subject to two
indépendant princes, as happens in the islands of
the South Sea, and wherever society is ncrt highly
advance. Thetradingnations, influenced by that
hideous policy which they still exercise on thé
coast of Africa^ kept up^ fntestine warfare. One
Guanche then became the ptOperty of another»
whasold him' to the ËuropeMS ; several, who pre***
ferred death to slavery, killed themselves and
their children. It is in this mamier âiat the popu-
lation of the Canaries had <x}nsiderably suffered by
the stave trade, by the deprèdà(tio»s of pirates, and
especially by a long piériod of carnage» when
Alonzo de Lugo completed their conquest What
remained of the Ouarïches perished moi^tly in
1494, in thé terrible pestilence called the modorrap
which was attributed to the quantity of dead bodies
left exposed to the air by the Spaniards after the
battle of la Laguna. Wbien a settiibarbarous nation,
xobbed of its property, is compelled to Hve intiie
same country with a polished |>eople> it seeks a re-
.treatcm the mountams' and in the forests. This
10 tils only refuge left to. the choice of an islander.
The oation of thé Guanches' was tb^tefore extinct
at t^e beginning of the seventeenâi isentury ; a few
old men oûfy were found at Candeliuria and
iSiiimar. v

It is however consoling tb fia^» ^Mit the whites

■ ^ T 2 ^

e7«

ttfive .aiot always disdaiqcd to intermarry with the
U9tiv6s ; but the Caimrians of tfae piiesent day,
qyfaomthe Spattiat^ds denote bylhe fâmiiiar title of
isleoaos/ have very -powerfttl motives foç denying
tb|8 mixture. In a long series of generations tiine
effaces the characteristic marks of a race ; and as
the dependants of the Aitdalusiads settled at Te*!
aeciffe are themselves 'of a dart^ complexion, we
pay conceive, that the intermarriages cannot have
produce a perceptible change in the: color of the
^kips of the whites. It. b very certain, 'that no
native of pure race exists in *thê whole islhnd ; and
«ome travellers, who* may bfe otherwise relied on,
are mistaj^en, when they assert, that their ^guides
to the Peak were some* of tliose slender and nim*
•ble footed Guanches/ It is true, that a few. Ca*
^arian families bgast of their relationship to the
last shepherd king^ of Guimar ; but these pneten-
«ions do not reât «on very solid foundations ; and
sx^ renewed, from, tunc to time, when some Cana-

rian, of a «lore ^w»ky hue, than bi^ countrytnexj,
ijR-* prompted to sQlipit a commission in the service

of the kifjg of Spain. . . .. - • . -y, s?

A short time^ after the dfccovery of America;,

^Khen Spjdn w^s $t, the, highest degree of its apknr
^or^ thegientle character of the Gulches. JKas Abe
vlashionable topk^ c^s: we ç^s^unt in .our time&the

^cca^iajQ Innoc^nQB qf the inhfthitantf /of Otaheite.

In both these pictures, the coloring is more gâu%

i\^^ï\ appiîîB^atBuit Wkeïl nations, weuriad Jwith

*•'

S7Ï

tYiental enjoyments, b^ôlâ jfK>thiog In tbç t^&bp^
inent of manneifs but Ihe germe ^;depravity, . tb^
are flattered whb the idea, that m sonie dUtapt re-
gion, in the fnrat dawn of eiyiUsatioa, infant pie-
ties enjoy pure. and* perp^ucd feUcity* To. ûm
^ sentiment Tacitns: owed a part of his sutcess^ when
he sketched for the Romans^ sub^ecti^of the Cff^
•4^rs; the picture of the nlanners of the inhabitants
of Germany, The same sentiment gives an i^-
^eiffable charm to the* narrative of those travellers,
^o, at the close of the last centiwy^ visited tl^
islands of the Pacific Ocean, . . ,

The inhabitants of those islands, too much
vaunted, though heretofore anthropophagi, resem-
ble, uader more than one point of view, the Guaa^
<;hes of Tenoriffe. We sec botli nations groaning
tinder the yoke of feudal gdvetnmeBt. Among
i|he Guancbes this institution, which facilitâtes and
«•enders a ^tato of M'arfere perpetual, was sanc-
doned by religion. The priests. declaTed to t^e
people, '' The. great Spirit, Achaman^ creatffd
first the nobles, the achmcnceysy to whom he ile-
aftributed all the goats, that exist on the &ce of the
£arth.. After the nobles, Achaman created tJie
{>lebefans, ackica^vnas. This younger race hAd.tbe
boldness to petition also for goats ^ but- the Su-
preme being answered, that, this race was defijtio-
ed to serve the nobles, and that they bad need i>f
no property.'* This tradition was made> no doutjt,
^please the rich. vassals of tU^ s^epbeyrd ki|ggB.

N

B78

Thus tJie fayceftj ik \\\^ priest, exercised the
right of ' conietting tiobility; andt^e law of the
Guanches expressed, that every achimencey, who
degraded himself by milking a goat with bis own
hands, lost bis title to nobility. This law does
not remind us of the simplicity of the Homeric age.
We are astonished to see the useful labors 6f agri^
culture, and of a pastoral life, exposed to contempt
at the very dawn of civilization. ^ .

The Guanchcs, famed ibrlheir tiiU stature, were
the Patagonians of the old world ; and historians
exaggerated the muscular force of the Guanches,
as, previous to the voyage of Bougainville and
Cordoba, a colossal form was conferred on the
tribe, that inhabited the southern extramty of
America. I never saw Guanche thummies but in
the cabinets of Europe j at the period of my
journey, they wete Very scarce; a considerable
êùmbelr, however, might be found, if miners were
«nptoyed to open the sepulchral caverns, which
are cut in ttie rock on the eastecn aslope of the Peak,
between Arico and Guiman These mummies are
in a state of desiccation so singular, that whole
fcodies, with their integuments, frequently do not
we^h above six xxc seven pounds ; or a third less
than the skeleton of an individual of the same
WUty recently stripped of the muscular flesh* The
emiformation of the scull has some slight resem-
lâance*to that of the.whiterace of the ancient Egyp-
tians ; and tSe incisive teeth of the Guanches are

«TO

blunted^ Ube those in the muiiimies found on the^
banks of the Nile. But this form of the teeth is '
owing to art alone ; and on examinii^ more carc*
fnlly the p}>ysiognomy of the ancient Canariaos,'
able anatomists^ have recognized in the cheek
bones, and the lower jaw^ perceptible differences^
from the Egyptian mummies. On opening those
of the Guanches^ remains of aromatic plants are>
discovered, among which the chenopodium . am-f
brosioi'des is constantly perceived : thé corpses are
often decorated with small laces, to which are
hung- little discs of baked earth, that appear ta
have served as * numerical signs, and resemble the
quippoes of the Peruvians» the Mexicans» and the
Chinese.

- As the population of islands is in general 1||9
exposed to the eSéct of migrations than that of
coitiqents, we may presume» that, in the time of
the Carthaginians and the Greeks, the Archipelago
of the Canaries was inhabited by the same race of
men, as were found by the Norman and Spanish
conquerors. The only monument that can throw
some light on the origin of the Guanches is their
language; but unhappily there are not above a
hundred and fifty words remaining, several of
which express the same object, according to thb

dialect of the different islanders. Independent of

* - ■ *

* Blumenbachf Dccas qulnta Collect, sues Craniorum iiver^
$arum GaUiumiliustn IQOS, p. 7»

i

280

these words, which haye beéi carefully noted^
there arc still some valuable fragments existing in
the names of a great number of hamlets, hills, and
valleys. The Guanches, like the'Biscayans, tiie
Hindoos, the Peruvians, and all the primitive na-
tions, had named the places after the quality of the
soil they cultivated, the shape of the^ocks, the
caverns that gave them shelter, and the nature of
the tree that overshadowed the springs.

It has been long imagined» that the language of
the Guanches had no analogy with the living
tongues; but since thetravelsof Hornemaon, and the
ingenious researches of Marçden and Venturi, have
drâun the attention of the learned to the Berbers,
who like the Sarmatic tribes, occupy an immense
e||ent of country in the north of Africa, we find,
that several Guaiiche. words have eommon roots
with words of the Cbilha and Gebali dialects *.
We shall cite for instance the words ;

H^B,\en^ in Guanche — Tigo; in Berberic^ Tigotk

Milk • f Abo; • » Acho.

Parley , • Tf-masen , • Tpinzeeu*

pasket f , . C^rian^ f * > Canan,

\yater , ^ Aenqm , • Anan.

I doubt whether this analpgy is a proof of a
jcommon origin j but it is an indication of the
lincient connexion between the Guanchps and Ber-
bers, ^ tjribp qf mpuijtaiqpers, \^ whjicb the Nu-

281

midians, the Getuli, and the Garatnanti are con-
founded, and who extend themselves from the
eastern extremity of Atlas by Harutsch and Fez-
zan, as far as the Oasis of Siwah and Angela.
The natives of the Canary Islands' called themselves
Guanches from guan^ man ; as the Tongaese call
themselves bye and donki^ which have the same
signification as guan. Besides, the nations wko
speak the Berberic language are not all of the same
race ; and the description, which Scylax gives in
his Periplus of the inhabitants of Cerne, a shep-
herd people of a tall statue tmd long hair, reminds
us of the features, which characterise the Canary
Guanches.

The greater attention we give to the study of
languages in a philosophical point of view, the
more we must observe, that no one of them is en-
tirely distinct : the langue^e of the Guanches *
would appear still less so, had we any data re-

* According to the researches of Mr. Va,ter, the Guanche
language offers the following analogies with the languages of
nations very remote from each other : dog among the Ame^
rican Hurons, aguienon; among the Guanches, aguyan ; man,
among the Peruvians» cari; among the Guanches, coran ;
hingi among the African Mandingoes, monso; among the
Guanches, monsey. The name of the island of Gomera is
found in that of Gomer, which designates a irihe of Berbers
(Vater^ Untersuc/t, ueber Amerika^ p. I7O). The Guanche
words Aicoracy Qod, and atmogaron^ ttrnpUy seem to be of
Arabic origin ; at least in the latter tongue almoharram signi-
j&es safirgd»

882

specting its mechanism and grammatical constrac^
tion; two elements more important than the form
of words, and the identity of sounds. It is the
same with certain Jdionis, as with those organized
beings, that seem to shrink from all classification
in the series of natural families. Their isolated
state is only so in appearance s for it ceases»
when, on embracing a greater number of objects,
we come to discover the intermediate links. The
learned, who find Egyptians wherever there are
mummies, hieroglyphics, or pyramids, will ima-
gine perhaps, .that the race of Typhon was united
to the Guanches by the Berbers, real Atlaiitics, to
whom belong the Tibboes and the Tuarycks of the
Desert * : but it is sufficient here to observe^ that
this hypothesis is supported by no anaJogyt be-
tween the Berberic and Coptic languages, which
are justly considered as a remnant of the ancient
Egyptian.

The people who succeeded the Guanches de-
scended from the Spaniards, and in a less degree
from the Normans. Thou^ these two races have
been exposed during three centuries past to the
same climate, the latter is distinguished by a whiter
skin. The descendants of the Normans inhabit
the valley of Teganana, between Punta. de Naga
and Punta de Hidalgo. The names of Grandville

* Voyctge de Horaemann^da Cairo à Mourzouk, t* ii> p. 406»

t Mithiidâtcs, I. iii, p^ 77. -

r-*

283

and 'Dampîerre are still pretty common in this .dis-
trict. The Canarians are a moral, sober, and
religious people; of a less industrious character
at home, than in foreign countries. A roving and
enterprising disposition leads these islanders, like
the Biscayan» and Catalonians, to the Philippines,
to the Marian islands,^ to America, and wherever
there are Spanish settlements, from Chili smd la
Plata to New-Mexico. To them we ara in a
great measure indebted for the progress of agri-
culture in those colonies. The whole Archipelago
does tiot contain 1(50,000 inhabitants, and the
Islennos are perhaps more numerous in the new
continent, than in their own country. The loi-
lowing table indicates whatever relates to the sta-
tistics of this country.

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The enumerations of 1678, 1745, and 1768,
have been published by Vieyra. The estimation of
1790. is by M. Ledru. The total population,
according to Lord Macartney, was 196,500; of
which- th(ere were 100,000 at TenerifFe, 40,000
at Canary, and 30,000 at Palma. The surfaces
have been calculated for the first time, and very
accurately, by Mr. Oltmanns*, from the charts
of Borda and Varela. Tl)e vintage at TenerifFe
yields from 20 to 24,000 pipes, 5000 of which are
malmsey. The annual exportation of wine is from
8 to JJOOO pipes. The amount of the: harvest m
the whole of the .Archipelago in wheat is 54,000
fanegas, of a hundred pounds each. In ordinary
years this ciop is sufficient for the consumption of
the inhabitants, who otherwise live on maize, po-
tatoes, and French beans> frisoles. The cultiva»
lion of the sugar-cane and cotton is of little im-
portance ; the principal objects of commerce are
wine, brandy, archil, and lîoda* The gross
amount of the revenue, including the tax on to-
bacco, is 240^000 piastres.

* Extent of the surface of the Canaries more accurately
expressed iff geographic leagues of 15 to a degree: Teneriffe,
41^; FoftavQwitura, 35^; Canary, -33 J ; Palma,! 5| ; Lan-
zerota, 14|;. or, iiicluding the- small neighbouring island^
15|; Gomera, S ; and^ Ferro, ^ : total ia3|. It is asto*
nishing, that Mr. Hassel, in his excellent work on the statis-
tics of Europe, gives the Canaries a population of 420,000 in-
habitants, and an* extent of 358 square German miles. (Stah

286

I shall not enter into any discussions of political
economy relative to the importance of the Canary
islands to the trading nations of Europe. Having
long employed myself in statistical researches on
the Spanish colonies, and being on terms of inti-
macy with persons who had held places of import-
ance at Teneriffe, I had an opportunity, during
my abode in Caraccas and at the Havannah, of
collecting considerable information respecting the
commerce of Santa Cruz and Orotava. But seve-
ral distinguised persons having since «visited the
Canaries, tliey have obtained the same means of
information as myself; and I do not hesitate to
strike out from my narrative, what has been ex-
plained, with greater precision, in worics .that have
preceded mine. I shall here confine myself to a
few considerations, which will terminate the sketch
1 have just given of the Archipelago of the Ca-
naries.

These islands have undergone the same fate as
Egypt, the Crimea, and matiy other countries, re-
specting which travellers, who are anxious to ele-
vate and surprise by contrasts, have been extra-
vagant both in their praise and their blame. Some,
landing at Orotava, describe Teneriffe as the
garden of the Hesperides, and celebrate the
amenity of the climate, the fruitfulness of the soil,
and the richneiss of the cultivation ; others, forced
to sojourn at Santa Cruz, behold nothing in these
Fortunate Islands but a country, najked« barren^

ssr

ànd inhabited by a stupid and miserable race. It
appeared to me, that in this archipelago, as in all
mountainous and volcanic countries, Nature has
been very unequal in the distribution of her gifts.
The Canaries are generally deficient in water; but
wherever there are springs, artificial irrigations, or
plentiful rains, the soil is highly fertile. The
lower class of the people is laborious ; but its in-
dustry is more active in distant colonies, than at
Teneriffe, where it meets with obstacles, ^vhich a
wise administration might progressively remove*
Emigration would be diminished, if the unculti-
vated demesne lands were distributed among pri-
vate persons, those which are annexed to the ma*
jorats of the great families were sold, and feudal
rights were gradually abolished.

The present population of the Canaries un-
doubtedly appears inconsiderable, when compared
with that of several countries of Europe. The
island of Malta,' the industrious inhabitarils of
which cultivate a rock almost destitute of mould,
is seven times less than Teneriffe, and yet has
twice the poimlation : but writers, who are fond
of painting in vivid colors the depopulation of the
Spanish colonies, and who attribute the cause to
the ecclesiastical hierarchy, forget that in every
place, since the reigh of Philip V, the nun^er of
inhabitants has obtained, in a greater or less de-
gree, a rapid increase. The relative population is
already greater in the Canaries, than in both Cas-

S88

tiles, in Estramadura, and in Scotland. The
whole archipelago exhibits a mountainous country,
the extent of which is a seventh less than the
surface of the island of Corsica : it supplies, how-
ever, the same number of inhabitants.

Though the islands of Lanzerota and Fortaven-
tara, which are the least populous, export corn,
while Teneriffe does not produce two thirds of its
consumption, we must not conclude, that in this
last island the number of inhabitants cannot in-
_ crease for want of subsistence. The Canary
islands are still remote from feeling the evils, that
arise from too considerable a population, and of
which Mr. Mai thus, has unfolded the causes with
so much precision and knowledge. The misery of
the people has considerably diminished, since the
cultivation of potatoes * has been introduced, and
since they have begun to sow more majze, than
wheat and barley.

The inhabitants of the Canaries exhibit traits
characteristic of a people, who are at the same time
mountaineers and islanders. In order to estimate
tihem truly, it is not enough to behold tliem in their

I m *

own country, where powerful obstacles prevent the

display of industry ; we must study them in the

plains of the province of Caraccas,. on the. ridge of

' the Andes, in the burnmg plains of the Philippine

* Tessier and Desautoy, on the Agriculture of the
Canaries. Mem. de Vlnat. t. i, p. 250 et 279.

289

islands, and wherever isolated in uninhabited
countries they have had occasion to display that
energy and activity, which are the true riches of a
planter.

Tlie Canarians are fond of considering their
country as forming part of European Spain, and
they have added some portion to the riches of
Castilian literature. The names of Clavijo,
author of the Pensador Madritense, of Vieyra,
Yriarte, and Betancourt, are honourably dis-
tinguished in the scientific and in the literary
world. The Canarians are endowed with that
liveliness of imagination, which characterizes the
inhabitants of Andalusia and Grenada j and we
may be led to hope, that, at some future period, the
Fortunate islands, like every other climate of the
Globe, either where man reposes on the lavish
bounties of Nature, or shrinks from the severity of
her frown, will inspire the muse of some native
poet.

?:nd of vol, I.

I

TABLES.

1 toîse =: 6 feet 4*736 inches
1 foot (pie du roi) =: 12789
1 metre =: 3 3*371

^àble of Degrees of the Centrgrade Thermometer, from the
point of boiling water to that of freezing mercury,* reduced
to Fahrenheit's scale.

Centigr.

Fahren*

Ceiiti^

Fahren. (

Centif^,

Fahreof

100

212

78

172-4 ,

56

132-8

99

210-2

77

170*6

55

131

98

20S-4

76

168*8

54

129-2

97

206^6

75 ;

a«7 .

53

127*4

96

204-8

74

166*2

52

125*6

95

203

73

163-4

51

123-8

94

201-2

7?

161-6

50

122

93

199-4

71

159-8

49

120*2

92

1976

70

158

'48

118*4

91

195*8

69

156*2

47

1166

90

194

68

154*4

46

114*8

89

192-2

67

152-6

45

113

88

190*4

66

150-8

44

111-2

87

188*6

65

149

43

109-4

86

186*8

64

1472 ;

42

107*6

85

185

63

145 4 ;

41

105*8

84

183*2

62

143-6 i

40

104

^3

181*4

61

141-8 ;

39

102-2

82

179*6

60

140

38

100-4

81

177*8

59

138 2

37

98-6

80

176

5H

136*4 •

36

96*8

^ 79

174^2

^7

134-6 i

85

95

Centiçr.

Fahren*

Centtgr.

Fahren.

Ceotigr.

Fahren.

34

93-2

9

48-2

16

3-2

33

91-4

8

46 '4

17

1*4

32

89*6

7

44-6

18

— 0-4

31

87*8

6

42-8

19

2-2

30

S6

5

41

20

4

29

84-2

4

39*2

21

5-8

28

82*4

3

37-4

25

7*6

27

80-6

2

35-6

23

9'4

26

78'8

1

33-8

24

11-2

25

77

B2

25

13

24

75-2

—1

30-2

26

14-8

23

7.Î-4

2

28-4

27

16-6

22

71-6

3

26-6

28

18*4

21

69*8

4

24-8

29

20-2

20

68

5

23

30

22

i9

66-2

6

21*2

31

23-8

18

64*4

7

19-4

32

25-«

17

62-6

8

17*6

33

27-4

16

60-8

9

15-8

34

29-2

15

59

10

14

35

31

14

57-2

11

12^2

36

82-8

13

55*1

12

10*4

37

34-6

12

53*6

13

8-6

38

36-4

11

51*8

14

6-8

39

38-2

10

50

15

5

40

40

*

W. Pople, Prifltcr, 67, Cbancery Lancb

Cfntiçr.

Fahrefl*

Cendgr.

Fabren.

Centigr.

Fahrea*

34

93*2

9

48-2

16

3-2

33

91-4

8

46*4

17

1-4

32

89-6

7

44-6

18

—0-4

31

87*8

6

42*8

19

2-2

30

86

5

41

20

4

29

84*2

4

3Î^2

21

5-8

28

82-4

3

37-4

2«

7*6

27

80-6

2

36-e

23

9*4

26

78«8

1

33-8

24

11-2

25

77

82

25

13

24

75-2

—1

30-2

26

14-8

23

7.Ï-4

2

28-4

27

16-6

22

71*6

3

26-6

28

18-4

21

69«8

4

24-8

29

20-2

20

68

5

23

30

22

19

66'2

6

21*2

31

23*8

J 8

64-4

7

19-4

32

25-6

17

62-6

8

17-6

33

27-4

16

60-8

9

15-8

34

29-2

15

59 '

10

14

35

31

^14

57-2

11

12-2

36

82-8

13

55*4

12

10-4

37

34-6

12

53-(J

13

8-6

38

36*4

11

51*8

14

6*8

39

38-2

10

50

15

5

40

40

W, Pople, PriaCer, 07, Cbancery Lanc»

#
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I

,1

■•rfT

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